A new model is providing insight into the impact of invasive lionfish on coral reefs in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea.
A new model is providing insight into the impact of invasive lionfish on coral reefs in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea. The venomous predatory fish has invaded more than 7.3 million square kilometres in the Atlantic and Caribbean, wreaking havoc among native fish populations.
The method, developed and tested with coral reef fish in the Bahamas through an international collaboration of scientists in Canada, the United States, and United Kingdom, is based on the behaviours used by prey to avoid being eaten by predators that use different hunting tactics.
“Many scientists have speculated that invasive lionfish are so successful in the Atlantic because prey don’t recognize them as a predator,” explained Stephanie Green, assistant professor in the University of Alberta’s Department of Biological Sciences and lead author.
“However, we found that reef fish enter the ‘danger zone’—close enough to be eaten—around invasive lionfish at similar rates to native predators. But for those prey that stray too close to lionfish, they are up to twice as likely to be captured than by predators that are naturally found on Caribbean reefs.”
Read more at University of Alberta
Image: A lionfish in the Bahamas. Invasive lionfish are wreaking havoc among native fish populations in the Atlantic and Caribbean. (Credit: Mark Albins, Ohio State University)
