Lionfish devour native species as population explodes

[Introvertebrate]

I saw this story on the news last night. "Lacking natural predators, the number of lionfish is growing ever-larger in the waters off the Florida Keys and now amount to three times the population that existed there two years ago." I look at it from a potential pet owner's perspective. If lionfish are that invasive, they'll be inexpensive. Heck, we could take wild caught ones for free. Has anyone ever had a lionfish? I think they're pretty.

 

[The Snark]

I've seen them kept and they are interesting. The problem of course is the major job keeping a salt water environment. The lab where I saw the Lion fish was actually designed around the plumbing, tanks, and maintenance aspects of circulating salt water. Huge pain in da tukus.

 

[friendttyy]

Was in the hobby of fish keeping but i left the hobby. I bred guppies, blue gouramies and zebra danios with great success then i left because it got boring i had hundreds of guppies and all got sold to the pet store for 0.5$ (R5)lol.And i agree the lion fish is a really invasive specie as their spikes (holding venom) prevents any possible predators from consuming them.

 

[pitbulllady]

The news segment I saw on these last night showed people cooking and eating lionfish, and the meat looked quite tasty, nice white, flaky, succulent fish. Of course, fishing for them DOES present a challenge because they are quite venomous, and I'm not sure I'd want to be on deck when a net full of these babies is dumped out on board, but once a market for the fish is established, hopefully someone will come up with a safe and target-specific means of fishing for the in quantities. I didn't see any mention of mercury levels, though, so that's something that would have to be considered, being as these are apex predators.

pitbulllady

 

[Introvertebrate]

Yeah, they say that if you cut off the venomous fins, they're okay to eat. Are the fish we ordinarily eat not apex predators?

 

[Akai]

I saw the same segment recently too. I think it was on PBS or something. Some guy and his partner who owns a restaurant is trying to market lion fish for the menu. Heck I'd try it if it was cooked right. lol

 

[pitbulllady]

I saw the same segment recently too. I think it was on PBS or something. Some guy and his partner who owns a restaurant is trying to market lion fish for the menu. Heck I'd try it if it was cooked right. lol

Well, that goes for any fish...with the exception of that in sushi, my ultimate guilty pleasure, but the meat on the lionfish looked really tasty. Those of you who do eat fish know that some fish just doesn't look or taste that appealing when cooked, like mullet for example, and often looks and taste go hand in hand when it comes to fish. If it doesn't look good, it probably isn't. The lionfish has that same appearance as flounder or whiting, both of which are much sought-after food fish here in the South, which is also where these things are most abundant.

pitbulllady

 

[The Snark]

Those of you who do eat fish know that some fish just doesn't look or taste that appealing when cooked, like mullet for example, and often looks and taste go hand in hand when it comes to fish. If it doesn't look good, it probably isn't.
pitbulllady

Hagfish. Yuck!

 

[pitbulllady]

Hagfish. Yuck!

Yeah, I've seen videos of people in Japan eating those things, reminds me of people here in the South eating boiled okra, ALSO YUCK! Slime just isn't one of the main criteria I look for in food, sorry.

pitbulllady

 

[Akai]

well let me clarify. The restaurateurs want to market the fish as a menu item in order to deal with the exploding population and the effect it has on the Florida Keys. We will be their predators and hopefully this will be a way to curb their numbers.

 

[Introvertebrate]

Now if Florida restaurants could start serving Burmese pythons............................

 

[freedumbdclxvi]

Now if Florida restaurants could start serving Burmese pythons............................

Be better off serving cat. See all kinds of feral cats or pet cats wandering and killing native wildlife. Haven't seen many Burms, but the news loves to make it sound like I shouls be fighting my way through them every time I walk to my car.