Lionfish Update

Three things…Capt. Jim was recently stung by one of these and suffices to say they have a painful sting. Their venom is located in their spiny spines and they have a lot of them. I spent a good bit of time in the water on my most recent visit to Andros and happily, I didn’t come across any lionfish and as far as I know (or could see actually) none crossed my path either. As I have mentioned in past posts the lionfish is an invasive species, as if being venomous isn't bad enough, and there are hunts, some with prizes, for these (no bag limit) throughout the year.

Thing two…The aggressive invasive lionfish, in addition to painfully stinging Capt. Jim is edible as long as you don’t eat the venomous spines. The meat of a properly (and carefully) fileted and cooked lionfish is white, flaky, and considered quite tasty. And have I mentioned that there are lots of lionfish out there? They've been found in the Caribbean, off the Florida Keys, and along the Atlantic as far north as Massachusetts and they multiply fast as the females produce 2 million eggs each year and they are causing the demise of 56 native fish species even as I type.

Thing three… A 12-year-old science fair entrant Lauren Arrington found out that lionfish can also survive in nearly fresh water (rivers and estuaries beware!). In her science fair experiment using only six fish and six tanks, she found the lionfish could live in water with a salinity level as low as 6 parts per million. Regular ocean water has a salinity of 35 parts per million. Since she didn’t want to be disqualified by killing the lionfish she didn’t go lower than 6 parts per million. Scientists followed up on her idea and found the lionfish limit is 5 parts per million and this puts more native species at risk since the lionfish, which has no known predators, is poised to enter and disrupt freshwater ecosystems.

A possible moral for this update? If you can’t beat ‘em…catch, kill, and eat ‘em!