The Invasive Lionfish Essay Sample

The Lionfish is a venomous fish natively found in the indo-pacific area. Less than 30 years ago the lionfish was introduced in the northern atlantic ocean. Lionfish are now thriving in the northern pacific and are invasive there. Many problems have been occurring due to the introduction of the lionfish and more are developing. What are these problems and how might they be solved?

How the lionfish was introduced into the pacific is thought to be human related. It's not uncommon for people to release animals they had as pets, they usually don't know that it could cause a problem. This problem spreads past the lionfish, many invasive species have been introduced this way, and example is the boa constrictor in florida. This problem's solution is complicated because you can't stop people from having pets nor can you stop them from releasing them, even if you make it illegal.

The lionfish are fish eaters, they will prey on small and larger fish. In the Pacific they like to prey on snappers and groupers, which are keystone species. The grouper is one of the keystone spices that its diminishing from lionfish is leading to unhealthy and dying coral reefs they live in. The grouper population is declining fast due to groupers reaching sexuall maturity at the age of ten years. Alot of groupers are dieing before sexuall maturity age because it's so old.

Coral reefs have the second most biodiversity out of any other biome and are close to the first, which is the tropical rainforest. Coral is one of the most important keystone species due to it being the home and protection to tremendous amounts of fish and other marine life, it’s also one of the main places for fish to spawn. If keystone species that are necessary for coral to thrive are being killed, it will lead to massive destruction in populations of marine life because they have no home or place to spawn. The problem goes beyond the destruction of marine life, there would be an economic loss and an increased price in some fish as there would be less fish making it harder to obtain them.

If the problem with lionfish is so big, what can we do to help eradicate this issue?

There are many things that people are trying to decrease the population of the lionfish. The invasive lionfish have no natural predator, but there are people trying to train sharks to eat lionfish so they have a predator. There are also competitions called the Lionfish Derby where divers will go and hunt lionfish and the one with the most lionfish will win a prize. Apps for phones have been developed so people can report sightings of lionfish. 

Overall lionfish are a cool species but when they are taken out of their natural habitat they can cause many problems. People have had to come up with unique solutions to eliminate the lionfish population. It's amazing how big of an impact one small fish can have on a whole ecosystem. The elimination or introduction of a species can cause a domino effect affecting the whole habitat and beyond as shown with the lionfish.