Grenada 2017 - Sandals La Source - Photos 8

Home>Holidays>Grenada 2017> Photos 8

This site looks much better with JavaScript turned on.  For the best experience, please enable JavaScript and refresh the page.

Dealing with Lionfish

Lionfish in the Caribbean tend to be large, colourful and beautiful.  There's a reason they grow so large - they are not a native Caribbean species, and they have no natural predators here.  They are voracious predators, hoovering up all the other reef fish, and growing to an enormous size compared to their homeland in the Indo-Pacific.  Because of the damage they do to the local reef life, they are considered a pest, and the dive leaders try to keep their numbers down by spearing them.  It helps that they are good to eat, so they don't go to waste. 

 

A large Lionfish (Pterois volitans) at Coral Garden - gorgeous, but bad for the health of the reef.
A large Lionfish (Pterois volitans) at Coral Garden - gorgeous, but bad for the health of the reef.
Gary spears a lionfish.
Gary spears a lionfish.
Gary spears another Lionfish for the pot, storing them in his Zookeeper protection tube.
Gary spears an invasive Lionfish for the pot, storing them in his Zookeeper protection tube.
If he doesn't have his Zookeeper tube with him, he clips off the poisonous spines with a pair of scissors..
If he doesn't have his Zookeeper tube with him, he clips off the poisonous spines with a pair of scissors.
On one occasion, we came across a Spotted moray eel in a hole.  Gary decided to let the moray tear chunks off the lionfish.  He explained later that he's trying to get the local morays to develop a taste for lionfish, to help keep their numbers down.
Meanwhile, Mark ensures his GoPro gets a close-up view of the action.
On one occasion, we came across a Spotted moray eel in a hole. Gary decided to let the moray tear chunks off the lionfish. He explained later that he's trying to get the local morays to develop a taste for lionfish, to help keep their numbers down.

Back to Grenada 2017.