Lionfish, grouper study at FGCU center will observe behaviors of native, invasive species
That’s what Emma DeRoy calls lionfish: the Indo-Pacific marine species that reproduces rapidly and exponentially, eats just about anything, and faces almost no predators here.
These spiny, colorful creatures are proliferating in Florida, raising serious environmental concerns.
However, data to help predict their impacts is limited.
That’s what drew DeRoy, an environmental science graduate student from the University of Windsor in Canada’s Ontario province, to Southwest Florida.
She’s studying live, captive lionfish at Florida Gulf Coast University’s marine and environmental research station in Bonita Springs.
To validate her findings in the lab, DeRoy also will observe lionfish in local waters they’re known to frequent, including Captiva Blue Hole, a deep, submerged sinkhole some 30 miles off Sanibel Island.
She's comparing lionfish behaviors with those of native grouper fish, competitors in the food chain.
The goal: learn some things that “apply to other (invasive) species, in other realms,” DeRoy said.
Adding to the body of knowledge about lionfish also matters. As DeRoy noted:
“It’s hard to control a species and mitigate their impacts if you don’t know what their impacts are, and some basic things about the species.”
Here’s an example where a combination of lab and field study could help provide answers:
Divers have watched lionfish gobble-up little plant-eating parrotfish that eat algae on coral reefs.
That raises concern that the algae will get out of control, and make coral reefs more susceptible to death by suffocation.
However, it’s unclear whether lionfish really are predisposed to eat more prey fish in a day than do native fish such as grouper or snapper.
DeRoy’s study doesn’t involve parrotfish; however, she hopes that her observations of grouper and lionfish feeding on small prey fish in controlled environments will help clarify how differently, if at all, lionfish behave when feeding.
She’s also observing and comparing how the two species move about in their search for food.
Apart from DeRoy’s studies, humans are discovering the pleasures of hunting for and eating lionfish.
“My divers always try to make sure to kill them, and bring them home to eat,” said Brent Argabright, owner of Dean’s Dive Center in south Fort Myers.
Argabright described the taste of lionfish as “a little lighter in flavor” than the grouper.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission encourages divers, anglers and commercial harvesters to safely remove lionfish they encounter in order to help control the numbers of these invasive fish.
Lionfish can be speared, caught in hand-held nets or caught on hook and line. There is no recreational or commercial harvest bag limit for lionfish.
Spear fishers are harvesting lionfish for commercial purposes, along multiple stretches of Florida's coastline, but especially in the Keys.
Lionfish is available at all 26 of Florida Whole Foods Market locations, including the one in Naples.
Whole lionfish are for sale this weekend at $7.99 per pound, down from $9.99 a pound, said a company spokeswoman. Lionfish fillets are $24.99 a pound.
But it’s becoming clear that we can’t eat our way out of this problem.
Catching lionfish is labor intensive. They tend to hang out around coral reefs, shipwrecks and other underwater structures. This rules out cost-effective use of nets and fishing lines.
This means divers spear them, one at a time.
Catching lionfish live and keeping them that way for research also has been a challenge for DeRoy's project.
Her work wouldn’t be possible without the Vester Marine and Environmental Science Research Field Station, where she is a visiting scholar.
The field station was established in June 2007 after the Florida Gulf Coast University Foundation acquired the waterfront property from Norm and Nancy Vester, who’d owned and managed it as the Bonita Beach Plantation Resort.
Beginning in May, Vester Facilities Manager Bob Wasno, FGCU Dive Safety Officer Lewis Johnson and volunteer Kevin Lollar began collecting lionfish for DeRoy.
Removing them from the rim of Captiva Blue Hole – at a depth of about 90 feet – was tricky.
The first batch of 15 all died from barotrauma, in which a fish’s bladder bursts if it is brought to the surface from deep water, too quickly.
The team refined their methods for bringing up the lionfish, and got better results.
At this point, about two dozen lionfish are alive and well in tanks at Vester. DeRoy’s support team plans to go out, and get more.
DeRoy is a recreational diver. However, the Ontario province where she’s enrolled allows students to dive for research only if they have commercial diving certificates.
Said DeRoy: “It’s a bit of a tease to come to Florida, work with a marine species, and not be able to dive, to get them myself.”
Connect with reporter Laura Ruane @Alvascribe on Twitter.
Five things to know about lionfish
They’ve invaded the waters off North Carolina to South America, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean.
Their venomous spines deter predators, and inflict mild to serious stings and reactions in humans.
They become sexually mature in less than a year; females can release eggs for fertilization about every four days or less.
Native predators generally avoid them.
They’re edible and considered a delicacy.
SOURCE: Reef Environmental Education Foundation, www.reef.org