Is Lionfish the Next Nile Perch?

by Ground Report    August 15, 2008

The lionfish population, native to the Indian and Pacific oceans, is rapidly multiplying and showing up everywhere from Cuba's coasts to Little Cayman's Bloody Bay.  The lionfish is not only stinging divers it is swallowing up species so rapidly that it is wreaking havoc on an already delicate region. The lionfish can eat up to 20 fish in less than 30 minutes.

A similar situation occurred in Africa, when the Nile Perch swept through Lake Victoria and rendered more than 200 fish species extinct. The World Conservation Union has named the Nile Perch one of 100 of the worst alien species invasions.

The lionfish as so far been concentrated in the Bahamas, where the islands are encouraging fishermen and divers to capture them in an attempt to avoid a situation such as the Nile Perch's.   

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

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