[Coral-List] Largest Lionfish ever?

[William Precht]

First known Lionfish sighted in the FKNMS was 2009 I believe. So if the Lionfish was caught off Islamorada it shouldn't be that old - certainly not 30 yrs old.
Would be interested to get an otolith for establishing the age of these larger fish from the Keys
Bill

Sent from my iPhone

> On May 22, 2015, at 11:04 AM, Ian Zink <izink at rsmas.miami.edu> wrote:
> 
> Lionfish were reported to first appear (in the scientific literature) in 
> Atlantic in 1985 off Dania, Florida:
> http://safmc.net/Portals/6/Meetings/Council/BriefingBook/Dec%2009/SSC/sscA33Alionfishdocs.pdf
> 
> Maximum age could be up to 30 years:
> http://nsgl.gso.uri.edu/flsgp/flsgpw10002/data/papers/059.pdf
> 
> Given those two pieces of evidence, and the complications related to 
> 'natural predation' of lionfish in the Atlantic (i.e., how likely could 
> a lionfish survive to maximum age/length?), I'd suggest that some big 
> fat individuals could be growing, and surviving, in Florida waters 
> simply because they've been here the longest.  I'd have to do more 
> research on the length/age to know approximately how old this large 
> individual was, but in the end, it could be just that lionfish have been 
> in Florida longer, and thus have more of chance to get that big, 
> relative to other locations where their introduction is more recent.  
> Someone else would have to chime in who knows more on the ecology of 
> lionfish to give a better answer as to whether or not Florida is better 
> habitat than other locations.
> 
> on an interesting note - the first introduction into Atlantic was 30 
> years ago - which coincides with the approximate age reported.
> cheers,
> Ian
> 
> <)))>< <)))>< <)))>< <)))>< <)))>< <)))>< <)))>< <)))>< <)))>< <)))><
> 
> 
> 
>> On 5/21/2015 2:53 PM, Lane W wrote:
>> I'm wondering if lionfish are proliferating even more so in the Florida
>> waters then in other places. Based on the size it would seem they are.
>> Do any of the Coral Listers know of a size chart for lionfish?
>> Any recent counts?
>> 
>> http://www.flmrg.org/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=446
>> 
>> Capt. Jimmy Nelson got quite the surprise when targeting lionfish while
>> shooting a segment off Islamorada for his show Extreme Fishing Adventures:
>> a HUGE lionfish! The large lion measured in at 18.75 inches or 477 mm,
>> which according to the Reef Environmental Education Foundation is the
>> largest lionfish they have officially measured.
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