[Coral-List] Largest Lionfish ever?

mtupper mtupper at coastal-resources.org
Mon May 25 13:50:00 EDT 2015


Lionfish reach sexual maturity in less than a year and grow to over 30 cm in
less than 2 years. That is how they are able to rapidly colonize the entire
Caribbean basin. The 30 year old specimens that have been aged were from public
aquaria. Wild-caught specimens are mostly 3-years old or less.
 
Check out Potts et al. 2010. Age and Growth of lionfish from the Western North
Atlantic, available here:
http://nsgl.gso.uri.edu/flsgp/flsgpw10002/data/papers/059.pdf
 
Cheers
Mark
 
 
Dr. Mark Tupper
Coastal Resources Association
1309-13618 100 Ave., Surrey, BC, Canada V3T 0A8
www.coastal-resources.org
Email: mtupper at coastal-resources.org
Tel. +1-604-999-7881

> On May 22, 2015 at 8:04 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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>
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