Reduce Risks from Invasive Species Coalition » Fish

Lionfish

admin — Mon, 04 Aug 2014 23:28:43 +0000

The lionfish (Scientific names: Pterois volitans and Pterois miles) is a beautiful, feathery-looking fish with venomous spines and a voracious appetite. Florida banned the import of lionfish on August 1, 2014, with fines of up to $1,000 and a year in prison. Lionfish, a maroon-and-white striped native of the South Pacific, first showed up off the coast of southern Florida in 1985. Most likely, someone dumped a few out of a home fish tank. With a reproduction rate that would put rabbits to shame and no predators to slow its march, the fish swept up the Eastern seaboard and down to the Bahamas and beyond, where it is now more common than in its home waters.

“The invasive lionfish have been nearly a perfect predator,” says Martha Klitzkie, director of operations at the nonprofit Reef Environmental Education Foundation, or REEF, headquartered in Key Largo, Fla. “Because they are such an effective predator, they’re moving into new areas and, when they get settled, the population increases pretty quickly.” The lionfish population exploded in the Florida Keys and the Bahamas between 2004 and 2010. As lionfish populations boomed, the number of native prey fish dropped. According to a 2012 study by Oregon State University, native prey fish populations along nine reefs in the Bahamas fell an average of 65 percent in just two years.

Lionfish first appeared in the western Gulf of Mexico in 2010; scientists spotted them in the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary, a protected area about 100 miles off the Texas coast, in 2011. Now scuba divers spot them on coral heads nearly every time they explore a reef. So far, significant declines in native fish populations haven’t occurred here, but the future is uncertain. “It’s kind of this impossible battle,” says Michelle Johnston, a research specialist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Galveston, who manages a coral reef monitoring project at the Flower Garden Banks. “When you think how many are out there, I don’t think eradication is possible now.”

Asian Carp

rriscmockup — Mon, 23 Jun 2014 16:58:23 +0000

Asian carp were introduced into the United States by fish farmers who wanted to control aquatic vegetation in their fish farms in the lower Mississippi River Basin. Unfortunately, during flood events they escaped their fish ponds and have been steadily moving up the Mississippi River toward the Great Lakes. Along the way they have devastated native fish populations. The four species of Asian carp comprise almost 95% of the biomass at some sampling sites in the Mississippi River. If the carp get into the Great Lakes, most likely at Lake Michigan through the Chicago Area Waterway System, they will be a serious threat to recreational and commercial fisheries in the Great Lakes, which are valued at billions of dollars annually. In January 2014, the US Army Corps of Engineers submitted to Congress the Great Lakes and Mississippi River Interbasin Study Report (GLMRIS). GLMRIS outlines a number of options to protect the Great Lakes from Asian carp and other invasives species moving into the Great Lakes from the Mississippi River, and to protect the Mississippi River from invasives species getting into the Mississippi River system from the Great Lakes. Congress is actively considering the GLMRIS report.

Northern Snakehead Fish

rriscmockup — Tue, 11 Mar 2014 13:04:02 +0000

The northern snakehead (scientific name: Channa argus) is a voracious predatory fish native to eastern Asia that was first discovered in Maryland in 2002, having been released from fish markets or the aquarium trade. It has thoroughly infested the Potomac River Basin, and isolated populations have also been found in lakes and rivers in southern California, Arkansas, Illinois, and North Carolina. It competes with and preys upon many native fish.

Scientists discover Asian carp eggs farther north in Mississippi River than ever before

rriscmockup — Wed, 12 Feb 2014 23:00:08 +0000

Scientists have discovered Asian carp eggs farther north in the Mississippi River than ever before, the U.S. Geological Survey announced yesterday.

The eggs and late-stage embryos came from water samples taken last spring near Lynxville, Wis., about 250 miles north of the area where eggs had previously been recorded. According to researchers, that means the carp spawned upstream of that location. It is unknown whether other eggs hatched and survived last year and whether future spawning events could result in live fish, researchers said.

While the eggs were identified as coming from the bighead carp, researchers don’t know whether they were from bighead or silver carp, the two species of Asian carp that most worry officials. The agency is conducting genetic tests on the eggs, and those results are expected in the coming weeks.

The collection and examination of the eggs are part of an ongoing study on Asian carp spawning habitat. USGS scientists, along with researchers from Western Illinois University, plan to collect more samples along the Mississippi this year, including in more northern areas, given these latest results.

“Invasive Asian carp could pose substantial environmental risks and economic impacts to the Upper Mississippi River if they become established,” Leon Carl, USGS’s Midwestern regional director, said in a statement. “Further research will help us to better understand their habitat requirements and inform integrated control efforts.”

The Asian carp, an invasive species known for its voracious appetite, has been present in the Mississippi River Basin since the 1990s. Officials now worry that the fish may find its way into the Great Lakes Basin, threatening the fisheries in that region.

The Army Corps of Engineers this year released a number of alternatives to keep carp out of the Great Lakes, including the construction of a physical barrier on the Lake Michigan waterfront.

The discovery of the eggs in the northern Mississippi may or may not have implications for the Great Lakes situation, USGS scientists Mark Gaikowski and Brent Knights said. However, it will affect future research. The findings are expected to help both federal and state officials come up with an integrated pest management approach.

Jessica Estepa, E&E reporter
Published: Wednesday, March 12, 2014