# Lion Fish, in a river near you?



## granfire (Jul 20, 2014)

warm river, I suppose....
Sixth-Grader's Science Fair Finding Shocks Ecologists : NPR

The young lady made a stunning discovery, even the experts didn't know, it seems.


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## donnaTKD (Jul 21, 2014)

problem was that the "experts" made assumptions based on whatever it was and all they had to do was a simple experiment 

well done to the yound lady involved for proving her hypothesis


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## Dirty Dog (Jul 21, 2014)

donnaTKD said:


> problem was that the "experts" made assumptions based on whatever it was and all they had to do was a simple experiment
> 
> well done to the yound lady involved for proving her hypothesis



Actually, the only assumption made was that since Lionfish are only found (in the wild) in salt water, that they're only going to be found (in the wild) in salt water. The fact that they can survive (for a short time) in the brackish area (a tiny tiny fraction of the water area) is interesting, but not earth shattering. Especially since it's pretty obvious that despite every opportunity to do so, they have no interest in moving into this area.
Hell, their prefered habitat is in deep salt water. As in deeper than 500 feet. We only see them on the reefs because they come up to the more fertile depths to feed.
We normally breath air that contains about 400 ppm of CO2. That's about 0.004% CO2. It becomes directly toxic at around 5%. But I don't think anybody here is going to stick a bag over their mouth and drive their inspired CO2 anywhere near that level. That's roughly what this young lady did with the Lionfish. 
Interesting. Not earth shattering.


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## donnaTKD (Jul 21, 2014)

thankyou for the enlightenment


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## PhotonGuy (Jul 22, 2014)

This goes to show that young people can be very bright, and can do great things.


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## ballen0351 (Jul 22, 2014)

granfire said:


> The young lady made a stunning discovery, even the experts didn't know, it seems.



Not exactly true her father did this same experiment and wrote a paper on it back in 2011  There have been lots of research on these pest fish in FLA.
https://www.loxahatcheeriver.org/pdf/Jud_et_al._2011_Estuarine_Lionfish.pdf
Outreach: Layman Lab at FIU


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## PhotonGuy (Jun 4, 2015)

So does anybody know it Lionfish is tasty?


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## Dirty Dog (Jun 4, 2015)

PhotonGuy said:


> So does anybody know it Lionfish is tasty?



Yes, they are. There are places all over the Caribbean that serve it. Lionfish don't take a hook, so they have to be speared. I hope nobody tries to net them, since doing so would utterly destroy the reefs. 
Personally, I generally leave them where I shoot them, for the other fish to eat. Since they're an invasive species, this is one way to teach the local critters that they're edible. This has met with some success, with predators initially being observed following divers to be fed, then sometimes actually taking the lionfish directly from the spear, and more recently actually hunting the lionfish on their own.


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## Xue Sheng (Jun 4, 2015)

EEK!!!

You mean one of these


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## Dirty Dog (Jun 4, 2015)

One of these...

 

This qualifies as a "good" lionfish, because I've put a spear through it.


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## PhotonGuy (Jun 4, 2015)

Dirty Dog said:


> One of these...
> 
> View attachment 19331
> 
> This qualifies as a "good" lionfish, because I've put a spear through it.


Some people might be really turned off by it. There have been people who've gotten offended just by the discussion of such stuff without the images.


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## Blindside (Jun 4, 2015)

People are offended by fishing?  That they are offended by talk about a common hobby isn't really my problem.


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## PhotonGuy (Jun 4, 2015)

Blindside said:


> People are offended by fishing?  That they are offended by talk about a common hobby isn't really my problem.


People here have been offended by hunting and you will notice that lots of people who are anti-hunting are also anti-fishing, after all, they're much the same thing except fishing is done in the water, usually with a rod or net.


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## Dirty Dog (Jun 4, 2015)

PhotonGuy said:


> Some people might be really turned off by it. There have been people who've gotten offended just by the discussion of such stuff without the images.



If anyone is offended by efforts to control an invasive, destructive species, in waters in which they have NEVER naturally lived, then that would really be their problem. 

Rational people recognize the difference between that, and shooting a specimen of an endangered species that has been conditioned not the fear man, in a fenced area. 


Sent from an old fashioned 300 baud acoustic modem by whistling into the handset. Not TapaTalk. Really.


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## PhotonGuy (Jun 4, 2015)

Dirty Dog said:


> If anyone is offended by efforts to control an invasive, destructive species, in waters in which they have NEVER naturally lived, then that would really be their problem.
> 
> Rational people recognize the difference between that, and shooting a specimen of an endangered species that has been conditioned not the fear man, in a fenced area.
> 
> ...


A responsible hunter does not shoot endangered species. When a species is endangered than there are controls put in place where hunting of that species is not allowed. And hunting is not the killing of animals that have been conditioned not to fear man and that are in fenced areas, that would be more along the lines of farming and slaughtering. And there are land animals that can be just as destrictive as certain fish species.


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## Xue Sheng (Jun 5, 2015)

PhotonGuy said:


> A responsible hunter does not shoot endangered species. When a species is endangered than there are controls put in place where hunting of that species is not allowed. And hunting is not the killing of animals that have been conditioned not to fear man and that are in fenced areas, that would be more along the lines of farming and slaughtering. And there are land animals that can be just as destrictive as certain fish species.



Did you read and/or do you understand what Dirty Dog posted? Because that post says you didn't or don't.


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