Lionfish Decimating Tropical Fish Populations, Threatening Coral Reefs
ScienceDaily (July 21, 2008) — The invasion of predatory lionfish in the Caribbean region poses yet another major threat there to coral reef ecosystems -- a new study has found that within a short period after the entry of lionfish into an area, the survival of other reef fishes is slashed by about 80 percent.
Aside from the rapid and immediate mortality of marine life, the loss of herbivorous fish also sets the stage for seaweeds to potentially overwhelm the coral reefs and disrupt the delicate ecological balance in which they exist, according to scientists from Oregon State University.
"This is a new and voracious predator on these coral reefs and it's undergoing a population explosion," Hixon said
Lionfish are carnivores that can eat other fish up to two-thirds their own length, while they are protected from other predators by long, poisonous spines.
"We have to figure out something
Hixon said
