[Coral-List] Invasive mesophotic lionfish records

[Dominic Andradi-Brown]

Hi All,

I'm currently writing a review of non-native lionfish at mesophotic depths
in the western Atlantic and also in the Mediterranean for an upcoming
Springer Coral Reefs of the World Book on mesophotic reefs.

I've gathered quite a lot of mesophotic records of lionfish in the table
below, but am aware that I'm probably missing some and a lot of countries
are not represented. I'm specifically looking for lionfish records from
deeper than 30 m that are published in papers, reports etc. If anyone knows
of any additional records of non-native lionfish >30 m depth I'd really
appreciate a heads up!

I'm also aware that there's a few groups that have manuscripts in press/in
revision on mesophotic lionfish. If you do and would be willing to share
these that would be much appreciated, as we're looking at a 2018
publication date for the review.

Many thanks,
Dom

*Mesophotic lionfish studies*



*Western Atlantic:*

*Country/Region*

*Max depth (m)*

*Mesophotic Lionfish References*

Cayman Islands

91

(Andradi-Brown et al. 2017b)

Bahamas

>100

(Lesser and Slattery 2011; Andradi-Brown et al. 2017b)

Bermuda

304

(Smith et al. 2013; Pitt and Trott 2015; Pinheiro et al. 2016; Gress et al.
2017; Andradi-Brown et al. 2017b)

Bonaire

165

(de León et al. 2013; Becking and Meesters 2014)

Conrad Seamount, Anegada Passage

167

(Quattrini et al. 2017)

Curaçao

247

(de León et al. 2013; Tornabene and Baldwin 2017; Andradi-Brown et al.
2017b) (Pinheiro et al. 2016)

Gulf of Mexico - northern

112

(Nuttall et al. 2014) (Switzer et al. 2015) (Dahl and Patterson 2014; Dahl
et al. 2016) (Fogg et al. 2013)

Gulf of Mexico - southern

45

(Aguilar-Perera and Tuz-Sulub 2010) (Aguilar-Perera et al. 2016)

Honduras

250

(Schofield 2010; Gress et al. 2017; Andradi-Brown et al. 2017a; 2017b)

Mexico - Yucatan

55

(Gress et al. *in review*)

Puerto Rico

126

(Bejarano et al. 2014; Quattrini et al. 2017) (Sherman et al. 2013)
(Garcia-Sais
et al. 2012) (Appeldoorn et al. 2016) (Armstrong 2016)

USA - Florida

80

(Whitfield et al. 2002; Meister et al. 2005; Andradi-Brown et al. 2016) (Reed
et al. 2015)

USA – The Carolinas and Georgia

100

(Meister et al. 2005) (Whitfield et al. 2002; 2014)



*Mediterranean (including Aegean etc):*

*Country*

*Max depth (m)*

*Reference*

Cyprus

43

(Kletou et al. 2016)



*References:*





Aguilar-Perera A, Quijano-Puerto L, Hernández-Landa RC (2016) Lionfish
invaded the mesophotic coral ecosystem of the Parque Nacional Arrecife
Alacranes, Southern Gulf of Mexico. Mar Biodiv

Aguilar-Perera A, Tuz-Sulub A (2010) Non-native, invasive Red lionfish
(Pterois volitans [Linnaeus, 1758]: Scorpaenidae), is first recorded in the
southern Gulf of Mexico, off the northern Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico.
Aquatic Invasions 5:S9–S12

Andradi-Brown D, Laverick J, Bejarano I, Bridge T, Colin PL, Eyal G, Jones
R, Kahng S, Reed J, Smith T, Spalding H, Weil E, Wood E (2016) Threats to
mesophotic coral ecosystems and management options. In: Baker E.K., Puglise
K.A., Harris P.T. (eds) *Mesophotic Coral Ecosystems – A Lifeboat For Coral
Reefs?* The United Nations Environment Programme and GRID-Arendal, Nairobi
and Arendal, pp 67–82

Andradi-Brown DA, Grey R, Hendrix A, Hitchner D, Hunt CL, Gress E, Madej K,
Parry RL, Régnier-McKellar C, Jones OP, Arteaga M, Izaguirre AP, Rogers AD,
Exton DA (2017a) Depth-dependent effects of culling—do mesophotic lionfish
populations undermine current management? Royal Society Open Science
4:170027

Andradi-Brown DA, Vermeij MJA, Slattery M, Lesser M, Bejarano I, Appeldoorn
R, Goodbody-Gringley G, Chequer AD, Pitt JM, Eddy C, Smith SR, Brokovich E,
Pinheiro HT, Jessup ME, Shepherd B, Rocha LA, Curtis-Quick J, Eyal G, Noyes
TJ, Rogers AD, Exton DA (2017b) Large-scale invasion of western Atlantic
mesophotic reefs by lionfish potentially undermines culling-based
management. Biological Invasions 19:939–954

Appeldoorn R, Ballantine D, Bejarano I, Carlo M, Nemeth M, Otero E, Pagan
F, Ruiz H, Schizas N, Sherman C, Weil E (2016) Mesophotic coral ecosystems
under anthropogenic stress: a case study at Ponce, Puerto Rico. Coral Reefs
35:63–75

Armstrong RA (2016) Landscape-Level Imaging of Benthic Environments in
Optically-Deep Waters. In: Finkl C.W., Makowski C. (eds) *Seafloor Mapping
along Continental Shelves: Research and Techniques for Visualizing Benthic
Environments*, Coastal Research Library. Springer International Publishing,
Cham, pp 261–272

Becking LE, Meesters E (2014) Bonaire Deep Reef Expedition I. 1–50

Bejarano I, Appeldoorn RS, Nemeth M (2014) Fishes associated with
mesophotic coral ecosystems in La Parguera, Puerto Rico. Coral Reefs
33:313–328

Dahl KA, Patterson WF III (2014) Habitat-Specific Density and Diet of
Rapidly Expanding Invasive Red Lionfish, Pterois volitans, Populations in
the Northern Gulf of Mexico. PLoS ONE 9:e105852

Dahl KA, Patterson WF III, Snyder RA (2016) Experimental assessment of
lionfish removals to mitigate reef fish community shifts on northern Gulf
of Mexico artificial reefs. Marine Ecology Progress Series 558:207–221

de León R, Vane K, Bertuol P, Chamberland VC, Simal F, Imms E, Vermeij M
(2013) Effectiveness of lionfish removal efforts in the southern Caribbean.
Endang. Species. Res. 22:175–182

Fogg AQ, Hoffmayer ER, Driggers WB III, Campbell MD, Pellegrin GJ, Stein W
(2013) Distribution and length frequency of invasive lionfish (*Pterois*
sp.) in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Gulf and Caribbean Research 25:111–115

Garcia-Sais JR, Sabater-Clavell J, Esteves R, Carlo M (2012) Final Report:
Fishery independent survey of commercially exploited fish and shellfish
populations from mesophotic reefs within the Puertorrican EEZ. 1–86

Gress E, Andradi-Brown DA, Woodall L, Schofield PJ, Stanley K, Rogers AD
(2017) Lionfish (*Pterois sp.*) invade the upper bathyal zone in the
western Atlantic. PeerJ Preprints 5:e2987v1

Kletou D, Hall-Spencer JM, Kleitou P (2016) A lionfish (*Pterois miles*)
invasion has begun in the Mediterranean Sea. Mar. Biodivers. Rec. 9:46

Lesser MP, Slattery M (2011) Phase shift to algal dominated communities at
mesophotic depths associated with lionfish (*Pterois volitans*) invasion on
a Bahamian coral reef. Biological Invasions 13:1855–1868

Meister HS, Wyanski DM, Loefer JK, Ross SW, Quattrini AM, Sulak KJ (2005)
Further Evidence for the Invasion and Establishment of Pterois volitans
(Teleostei: Scorpaenidae) Along the Atlantic Coast of the United States.
Southeastern Naturalist 4:193–206

Nuttall MF, Johnston MA, Eckert RJ, Embesi JA, Hickerson EL, Schmahl GP
(2014) Lionfish (*Pterois volitans* [Linnaeus, 1758] and *P. miles*
[Bennett, 1828]) records within mesophotic depth ranges on natural banks in
the Northwestern Gulf of Mexico. BioInvasions Records 3:111–115

Pinheiro HT, Goodbody-Gringley G, Jessup ME, Shepherd B, Chequer AD, Rocha
LA (2016) Upper and lower mesophotic coral reef fish communities evaluated
by underwater visual censuses in two Caribbean locations. Coral Reefs
35:139–151

Pitt JM, Trott TM (2015) Trapping Lionfish in Bermuda, Part II: Lessons
learned to date. Proceedings of the 67th Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries
Institute November 3-7 2014 67:221–224

Quattrini AM, Demopoulos AWJ, Singer R, Roa-Varon A, Chaytor JD (2017)
Demersal fish assemblages on seamounts and other rugged features in the
northeastern Caribbean. Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research
Papers

Reed J, Farrington S, Harter S, Moe H, Hanisak D, David A (2015)
Characterization of the Mesophotic Benthic Habitat and Fish Assemblages
from ROV Dives on Pulley Ridge and Tortugas during 2014 R/V Walton Smith
Cruise. coastalscience.noaa.gov 133

Schofield PJ (2010) Update on geographic spread of invasive lionfishes
(*Pterois
volitans* [Linnaeus, 1758] and *P. miles* [Bennett, 1828]) in the Western
North Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico. Aquatic Invasions
5:S117–S122

Sherman C, Appeldoorn R, Ballantine D, Bejarano I, Carlo M, Kesling D,
Nemeth M, Pagan F, Ruiz H, Schizas N, Weil E (2013) Exploring the
mesophotic zone: Diving operations and scientific highlights of three
research cruises across Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands. Proceedings of
the 2013 AAUS/ESDP Curaçao Joint

International Scientific Diving Symposium, October 24-27, 2013, Curaçao.
Dauphin Island, AL: American Academy of Underwater Sciences 297–312

Smith SR, Sarkis S, Murdoch TJ, Weil E, Croquer A, Bates NR, Johnson RJ, de
Putron S, Andersson AJ (2013) Threats to Coral Reefs of Bermuda. In:
Sheppard C.R.C. (eds) Coral Reefs of the United Kingdom Overseas
Territories, Coral Reefs of the World 4. Springer, pp 173–188

Switzer TS, Tremain DM, Keenan SF, Stafford CJ, Parks SL, McMichael RH Jr.
(2015) Temporal and Spatial Dynamics of the Lionfish Invasion in the
Eastern Gulf of Mexico: Perspectives from a Broadscale Trawl Survey. Marine
and Coastal Fisheries 7:10–17

Tornabene L, Baldwin CC (2017) A new mesophotic goby, *Palatogobius
incendius* (Teleostei: Gobiidae), and the first record of invasive lionfish
preying on undescribed biodiversity. PLoS ONE 12:e0177179

Whitfield PE, Gardner T, Vives SP, Gilligan MR, Courtenay Ray WR Jr, Ray
GC, Hare JA (2002) Biological invasion of the Indo-Pacific lionfish *Pterois
volitans* along the Atlantic coast of North America. Marine Ecology
Progress Series 235:289–297

Whitfield PE, Muñoz RC, Buckel CA, Degan BP, Freshwater DW, Hare JA (2014)
Native fish community structure and Indo-Pacific lionfish Pterois volitans
densities along a depth-temperature gradient in Onslow Bay, North Carolina,
USA. Marine Ecology Progress Series 509:241–254