Death to Lionfish

02/20/2026

https://www.lionfishinvitational.com/

Invitational Research Expedition into the Gulf of Mexico and Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary. I don't know if any spaces are still available, but this four-night trip offers a unique opportunity to visit some amazing places.

The invasion of lionfish in the Gulf of Mexico is a situation of rapidly increasing magnitude. A federal collection permit will be issued for three-day lionfish research cruises onboard the recreational dive charter vessel M/V Fling. Join the Lionfish Invitational

03/13/2025

Posted by Carl Watkins on Facebook. The August 2024 REEF Derby winner removed 321 invasive lionfish. Islamorada. Florida Keys. They gave the fish to a local restaurant.

04/22/2023

Lionfish leather. It's a real thing. Not the entire shoe, but as part of P448's Project Sustainability project, the navy heel tab is lionfish leather. A niche product, for sure.

Meet the first-to-market collection of sneakers made from invasive species skins, part of our sustainability initiative, Project Sustainability™, and a step towards our commitment to making 30% of product offerings sourced from earth-conscious materials. Starting with our most-loved silhouette, th...

04/18/2023

Is it possible to trap lionfish found at depths beyond routine scuba diving? Yes, but challenges remain before a viable deepwater trap fishery is practical or profitable. This important study tested several trap designs from 38 to 78 m depths. The paper is a great example of how good ideas arise and get tested, with solid science results that can help inform future endeavors.

10/28/2022

Catch them and eat them. You can even make jewelry. Now, their skins are being tanned to make leather for wallets and purses.

Venomous lionfish are taking over the Caribbean and the Mediterranean Sea, eating everything in their paths. One solution: handbags and belts.

09/13/2022

This is pretty much where things stand related to lionfish derbies and a mainstream update on lionfish. Well written, but not much new information to those who follow this page or the topic in general.

In the Panhandle, where swarms of lionfish gobble up native species, a tournament offers cash prizes to divers skilled at spearing one predator after another.

12/07/2021

Stephanie Green and colleagues published a new paper on 35 acoustically tagged lionfish. Results revealed that the lionfish home range was 3 to 10 times larger than previously estimated. There was also substantial (8x) variability across individuals. Over 1/3 of fish traveled more than 1 km toward deeper water. One fish traveled more than 10 km in ten days. The average home range size was approximately 100,000 square meters. For perspective, that’s the size of a circle with a 360 m diameter. Fish size did not explain the distances moved. Distance traveled was lowest at night. The results help explain rapid recolonization rates after removal.

ABSTRACT: Tracking studies for invasive lionfish (Pterois volitans and P. miles) in the Western Atlantic can provide key information on habitat use to inform population control, but to date have likely underestimated home range size and movement due to constrained spatial and temporal scales. We tra...

11/10/2021

FLORIDA WAS NOT GROUND ZERO FOR THE INVASION

I recently read several interesting lionfish papers. I'll report on others over the next several weeks.

Margaret Hunter from the USGS based in Gainsville Florida and her colleagues investigated the population genetics of lionfish from six locations including the Bahamas, Florida Keys, northwest and southeast Florida, North Carolina, and Panama. Guess what?

Results from the paper suggest that Florida WAS NOT ground zero for the invasion. This contradicts inferences based on lionfish observations along the coast of Florida going back to 2002 and possibly earlier.

Instead, Florida was colonized by fish from the north. Also, genetic variability was relatively low which suggests inbreeding in aquaculture stocks and/or founding effects (the invasion was started by only a few individuals possibly at multiple locations).

This paper will become a classic in the scientific literature on lionfish.

ABSTRACT: The red lionfish Pterois volitans is a successful invasive predator across the western North Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf of Mexico. The southeast coast of Florida (USA) has been identified as the original introduction location, but genetic analyses including Florida lionfish have yet to....

03/21/2021

Action on invasive reptiles in Florida. No comment, except what took so long? I know, this is not about lionfish, but the same forces are in play - commercial forces to be specific.

FWC says breeding for commercial sale and pet ownership increases the risk of establishment of invasive species in Florida

11/02/2020

A couple of months ago, an interesting paper was published using a molecular approach called DNA barcoding to identify prey species found in lionfish stomachs. Findings were similar to conventional methods that sort through gut contents to identify undigested prey. Results demonstrated fish as the primary food, but six lionfish stomachs out of 50 tested had at least one invertebrate species. Some prey items were identified as lionfish, but it wasn’t clear if they were from contamination or cannibalization.

DNA barcoding was used to identify prey fragments recovered from the stomachs of lionfish harvested during the 2016 Sarasota Lionfish Derby. A total of 305 prey fragments were recovered from 50 stomachs (mean = 4.6 per stomach), of which 184 (60.3%) fragments could be identified to either species or...

02/06/2020

An important new paper was just published (it's open access) that suggests lionfish populations declined in the Gulf of Mexico starting late in 2017. The possible cause of the decline includes an ulcerative (yuck) skin disease. Changes in the size structure of the population were also detected that suggest annual recruitment to the population may have failed by 80 percent in 2018. Related, recreational and commercial catch numbers declined by 80 percent in 2018. These observations suggest that mother nature may be catching up with the invasion, but it's too early to predict whether or not populations will decline further, or elsewhere.

Invasive Indo-Pacific lionfish Pterois volitans/miles have become well-established in many western Atlantic marine habitats and regions. However, high densities and low genetic diversity could make their populations susceptible to disease. We examined changes in northern Gulf of Mexico (nGOM) lionfi...

10/15/2019

Final Clearance. Death To Lionfish stickers and refrigerator magnets. Large and small stickers still available. Free to individuals and environmental groups. Message me your name and mailing address. I never use or forward your personal information.