Divers Capture Fourth Lionfish in the U.S. Virgin Islands National Park
Scientific divers monitoring the coral reef ecosystems off the coasts of St. John, USVI identified and killed a sub-adult lionfish (15 cm total length) in Fish Bay. The invasive fish was first spotted July 15, 2010 and captured the following day within 10 meters of the original sighting. The dive team was in the area collecting a tenth year of data aimed at evaluating the health of corals, fish and invertebrates. Native to the Pacific Ocean, lionfish have no natural predators in the Caribbean and are voracious predators of native fish species, eating many times their body weight. Divers on the mission were from NOAA
Related NCCOS Center(s): CCMA
Shorter web link for sharing: http://coastalscience.noaa.gov/news/?p=1785
