Lionfish in Key Largo

On June 9th I was on the dock waiting to board the dive boat with an underwater photography student and a friend of mine, Capt. Mark, who owns Scuba-Do Dive charters (www.scuba-do.com) walked by carrying a 5 gallon white bucket with 'something' in it. Out of curiosity I wandered over to see what was in the bucket.

Pictured above is what Mark was carrying and it is a photograph of Lionfish. As most of you probably already know, these fish are not indigenous to the Florida Keys, yet this fish was captured on one of our most popular dive sites, the wreck of the 'Benwood' which rests a few miles off shore of Key Largo.

These fish have been seen in the waters offshore of the East coast of Florida and up into the offshore waters of the Carolinas and for some time now. Recently they have become very prolific in the Bahamas. Two friends of mine were diving in the Bahamas and saw these fish on every dive!

It has only been the past few months that these fish have been sighted in our waters, in the Key Largo area. This is the fourth one that I have heard of although there could have been others.

The Lionfish has no natural predators in our waters and is evidently a voracious feeder and eater of small fish. Without any predators and having such a huge appetite, the Lionfish has the potential to upset our ecosystems balance.

Because of this we have been asked to report any sightings we have of the Lionfish and to R.E.E.F. and they in turn then attempt a capture.

They are a very ornate fish. Very photogenic, even in a 5 gallon bucket. Prior to this, my last attempt to photograph one was in Maui in 1992. I failed miserably at that attempt because I had not loaded my camera with film. (big but embarrassed, grin!)

Be interesting to see how many more of the Lionfish we encounter in the coming months.

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