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I checked this out by going to the link included. It's for real. When I was at the newspaper's site where there is a "search" for the paper and typed in "lionfish" and found there are several stories about this.
Mission Studying Lionfish Off N.C. Coast
The Associated Press
Thursday, August 19, 2004; 7:55 PM
WILMINGTON, N.C. - When divers first reported lionfish off the
North Carolina coast four years ago, biologist Paula Whitfield
thought it must be a mistake or an aberration. The poisonous,
carnivorous Indo-Pacific lionfish is native to tropical waters
half a world away - not the seas off the Outer Banks.
An ongoing study has shown Whitfield that things are worse than
she could have imagined. The fish is not only present but
thriving, and could threaten important commercial fish species
such as snapper, grouper and sea bass.
"They're everywhere," she said Tuesday as divers brought another
two lionfish aboard the University of North Carolina at
Wilmington research vessel Cape Fear.
Whitfield, a fisheries biologist with the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, is leading a team that has been
diving about 50 miles southeast of Wrightsville Beach.
The expedition, sponsored by NOAA's Undersea Research Center at
UNC-Wilmington, is meant to see how extensive the invasion by
the lionfish is and what effect it might be having on native
species.
Whitfield said researchers were hoping to find 30 specimens, but
have already hauled up nearly 80 with a week of dives still to
go.
The disheartening results could mean dropping efforts to
eradicate the fish and instead developing a plan to manage them.
"It wouldn't be bad if we were just finding adults," research
center science director Tom Potts said. "But now we're finding
juveniles and pregnant females as well."
The fish is the top predator in its native Indian and South
Pacific ocean habitats - a role filled by the grouper and
snapper in local waters. It has no known natural enemies.
A worrisome note is that the reefs and hard-bottom areas it
favors locally are also the nursery grounds for important
commercial and sport fish, such as snapper and grouper.
"We now know they're eating fish, not crustaceans or other
shellfish," Whitfield said aboard UNC-W's research vessel Cape
Fear, as NOAA research technician Christine Addison removed a
small jar from a cooler containing three young sea bass found in
a lionfish's stomach.
Little is known about the lionfish's breeding pattern, but
scientists believe it can spawn several times a season.
Addison, holding a full ovary from a fish she was dissecting,
said each female can release between 5,000 and 20,000 eggs each
spawning.
The way the eggs are dispersed could explain the lionfish's
rapid colonization of reefs and hard-bottom areas between
Florida and Long Island, N.Y., she said.
They are buoyant, and could ride the warm waters of the Gulf
Stream all along the Atlantic seaboard - one way lionfish or
their eggs might have migrated up the coast from Florida, where
many researchers think the first aquarium releases occurred.
"This fish seems to have everything going for it," she said with
a wry smile.
Whitfield said lionfish have been found only in areas of warm
water, with temperatures from the mid-60s or higher, in depths
ranging from roughly 120 feet to an estimated 260 feet.
"That means they probably won't get any closer than maybe 25
miles offshore," she said.
But that leaves a huge swath of ocean for the lionfish to
colonize.
"We've found them at 10 of the 12 places we've dived at, and in
large numbers," Whitfield said.
Researchers plan to conduct more dives this winter to see how
the lionfish manage off the Cape Fear coast as water
temperatures drop. Whitfield also said she hopes to do some fish
tagging and additional census data to gauge the newcomer's
density and geographic range.
But she said she can already draw one conclusion without any
additional research.
"I think they're here to stay," she said. "Unfortunately, that's
something we can now say pretty confidently."
---
Information from: The Star-News,http://starnewsonline.com
Mission Studying Lionfish Off N.C. Coast
The Associated Press
Thursday, August 19, 2004; 7:55 PM
WILMINGTON, N.C. - When divers first reported lionfish off the
North Carolina coast four years ago, biologist Paula Whitfield
thought it must be a mistake or an aberration. The poisonous,
carnivorous Indo-Pacific lionfish is native to tropical waters
half a world away - not the seas off the Outer Banks.
An ongoing study has shown Whitfield that things are worse than
she could have imagined. The fish is not only present but
thriving, and could threaten important commercial fish species
such as snapper, grouper and sea bass.
"They're everywhere," she said Tuesday as divers brought another
two lionfish aboard the University of North Carolina at
Wilmington research vessel Cape Fear.
Whitfield, a fisheries biologist with the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, is leading a team that has been
diving about 50 miles southeast of Wrightsville Beach.
The expedition, sponsored by NOAA's Undersea Research Center at
UNC-Wilmington, is meant to see how extensive the invasion by
the lionfish is and what effect it might be having on native
species.
Whitfield said researchers were hoping to find 30 specimens, but
have already hauled up nearly 80 with a week of dives still to
go.
The disheartening results could mean dropping efforts to
eradicate the fish and instead developing a plan to manage them.
"It wouldn't be bad if we were just finding adults," research
center science director Tom Potts said. "But now we're finding
juveniles and pregnant females as well."
The fish is the top predator in its native Indian and South
Pacific ocean habitats - a role filled by the grouper and
snapper in local waters. It has no known natural enemies.
A worrisome note is that the reefs and hard-bottom areas it
favors locally are also the nursery grounds for important
commercial and sport fish, such as snapper and grouper.
"We now know they're eating fish, not crustaceans or other
shellfish," Whitfield said aboard UNC-W's research vessel Cape
Fear, as NOAA research technician Christine Addison removed a
small jar from a cooler containing three young sea bass found in
a lionfish's stomach.
Little is known about the lionfish's breeding pattern, but
scientists believe it can spawn several times a season.
Addison, holding a full ovary from a fish she was dissecting,
said each female can release between 5,000 and 20,000 eggs each
spawning.
The way the eggs are dispersed could explain the lionfish's
rapid colonization of reefs and hard-bottom areas between
Florida and Long Island, N.Y., she said.
They are buoyant, and could ride the warm waters of the Gulf
Stream all along the Atlantic seaboard - one way lionfish or
their eggs might have migrated up the coast from Florida, where
many researchers think the first aquarium releases occurred.
"This fish seems to have everything going for it," she said with
a wry smile.
Whitfield said lionfish have been found only in areas of warm
water, with temperatures from the mid-60s or higher, in depths
ranging from roughly 120 feet to an estimated 260 feet.
"That means they probably won't get any closer than maybe 25
miles offshore," she said.
But that leaves a huge swath of ocean for the lionfish to
colonize.
"We've found them at 10 of the 12 places we've dived at, and in
large numbers," Whitfield said.
Researchers plan to conduct more dives this winter to see how
the lionfish manage off the Cape Fear coast as water
temperatures drop. Whitfield also said she hopes to do some fish
tagging and additional census data to gauge the newcomer's
density and geographic range.
But she said she can already draw one conclusion without any
additional research.
"I think they're here to stay," she said. "Unfortunately, that's
something we can now say pretty confidently."
---
Information from: The Star-News,http://starnewsonline.com
