[Coral-List] Lionfish matters

[andrea anton]

Dear coral listers,

From my field experience working with lionfish, I would say cannibalism is 
pretty unlikely to happen. I have had multiple lionfish of different sizes in 
large fish cages and never saw lionfish attacking each other.  In fact, they 
seem to like to hang around in groups in the reef.

The ciguatera news are bad but not surprising.  However, other large predatory 
fish carry ciguatera too and that did not stop us from fishing them.  Look at 
the recommendations by NOAA on this matter: 



http://nolionfish.com/2011/01/lionfish-and-ciguatera-the-facts-have-changed-2/

Finally, although I love the idea of calling them the “stripped grouper” to 
encourage people to eat them, they taste so good that people that have tried 
them seem to love them (even knowing they are lionfish). See the response of 
Bahamians after eating lionfish for the first time (outreach video we have made 
in the Bahamas to encourage people to catch them and eat them!): 



http://www.conchsaladtv.com/lionfish-invasion-part-3/ 


(Lionfish Invasion, part 3 ~minute 11).

Best regards
 
Andrea Anton
Graduate Student
Coker Hall
University of North Carolina
27599-3280 Chapel Hill NC




________________________________
De: MelissaE Keyes <melissae.keyes at yahoo.com>
Para: coral coral <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
Enviado: jue,27 enero, 2011 09:35
Asunto: [Coral-List] Lionfish on the menu

Hello, Listers,

Not to drag on forever this Lionfish discussion, but they are an apex preditor, 
and have the ability to carry the ciguatera poison.  I read recently that of ten 

fish tested, six were 'infested' with ciguatera.  So much for them being a human 

food source. :(

"Cheers", 

Melissa
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Melissa E. Keyes
St. Croix, 
U.S.Virgin Islands
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