The Caribbean War against Lionfish
This week, Anjani Ganase, marine biologist, tells us what we need to know about the presence of lionfish on Caribbean reefs. With no natural predators in the Atlantic, lionfish feed voraciously upon juvenile fish that are essential to healthy coral reefs. Introduced carelessly in Atlantic waters, man must take on the responsibility to stem the invasion. This article was first published in the Tobago Newsday on Thursday, November 10, 2016. Follow Anjani on twitter @AnjGanase Lionfish in its native home, the Great Barrier Reef. Photo by Richard Vevers, The Ocean Agency, XL Catlin Seaview Survey 2012. Lionfish Invasion Naturally present in the Indo-Pacific tropical waters, the lionfish is a common ornamental fish in the aquarium trade. In the 1980s, two species of lionfish - red lionfish ( Pterois volitans ) and the devil firefish ( Pterois miles ) the less common of the two - were introduced into the marine waters along Florida’s east coast, a no...