[Coral-List] The Lionfish Invasion

[Melissa Keyes]

Hello, Listers,
 
Is there any theory as to how these fish are spreading?  From what I've gathered, they're first seen as large juveniles or adults.  I've never seen a photo of a tiny one, do they resemble adults soon after being born/hatched?  Are the young much stronger swimmers to go so many miles?  To have gone across the Atlantic to Bermuda is amazing, but to have reached Belize, well, where do the currents go, anyway?
 
I think it's very very strange that Lionfish are just recently being seen in the Florida Keys.  They've made it many hundreds of miles to the east and south of Miami, their origin.
 
Lionfish have recently arrived in the Virgin Islands, as adults.
 
We certainly cannot depend on large Groupers to eat many of them.
 
Regards,
 
Melissa E. Keyes
Saint Croix, USVI