grouper eats lionfish video

WaVeCrAzEd

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=fd2_1424961913
:willynilly

underwater

Interesting video. Thanks for sharing.

I wonder if the grouper survived ingesting the spines. If it did, hopefully the groupers here start munching lionfish.

Fletch

A buddy and I delivered 300 lbs of Lionfish to a local restaurant a few weeks back and kept another 30-40 lbs for ourselves. Would estimate 350+ individual fish. Had an eel grab one after I shot it (I beat it away from the eel) but have seen no other threat to them. From my first-hand observations, there aren't enough predators in the sea - not even humans - to get rid of them. They are thick as thieves, fearless and unfortunately, here to stay.

Triple Threat 33T

Fletch wrote: »

A buddy and I delivered 300 lbs of Lionfish to a local restaurant a few weeks back and kept another 30-40 lbs for ourselves. Would estimate 350+ individual fish. Had an eel grab one after I shot it (I beat it away from the eel) but have seen no other threat to them. From my first-hand observations, there aren't enough predators in the sea - not even humans - to get rid of them. They are thick as thieves, fearless and unfortunately, here to stay.

You spend a lot of time on and under the water, what are you seeing as far as the effect of Lionfish on other species?

Fletch

Nothing directly observable Rich. Anecdotal observations would lead you to believe they are a low-energy, low-consumption species. They just lay there and hardly move. A friend and I were debating it and this was the position he took. Compared them to sea bass which are also very thick but behave just the opposite. In fact, sea bass are aggressive as he!l. Shoot a fish and they are on it like a pack of hyenas tearing at any loose flesh before you can even get your hands on the fish. They'll bite your fingers and nip at your ears if you aren't wearing a hood. His initial position was that Sea Bass are doing more damage.

I tempered the debate by reminding him that Lionfish are primarily nocturnal feeders (or so I've been told). My stance was that we won't get a feel for their habits unless we're watching them at night. Researchers all seem to agree that they are VERY aggressive and effective predators. They eat the small stuff, including juveniles that are settling on the reef. They are also voracious breeders. All I can say is that some species (spiny lobster for example) seem to be at all-time lows right now. Whether this is the result of a natural cycle - which can and has had an effect - or predation by Lionfish is a mystery to me. I was in Curacao year before last for a diving safety conference. Many of the presentations centered on Lionfish. They've routinely observed them as deep as 1000 ft from submersibles. When you consider all the structure we have beyond normal dive depths (say greater than 150 ft), it's likely that we have way more Lionfish out there than we can ever imagine. Divers are having some localized success thinning them out in the southern parts of the state where structure in dive able depths is more compressed and dive traffic is high but I think short of some sort of Lionfish-specific disease, we will never even put a dent in them.

Lucky7Team2

Fletch wrote: »

A buddy and I delivered 300 lbs of Lionfish to a local restaurant a few weeks back and kept another 30-40 lbs for ourselves. Would estimate 350+ individual fish. Had an eel grab one after I shot it (I beat it away from the eel) but have seen no other threat to them. From my first-hand observations, there aren't enough predators in the sea - not even humans - to get rid of them. They are thick as thieves, fearless and unfortunately, here to stay.

The goal is no longer to eradicate them, just control the population. Nature adapts IMHO. That grouper stalked that lionfish until it was able to stun it and eat it head first. Certainly not the first time it has done it and certainly not the first grouper. That tactic is genetically passed on to the groupers offspring. And so on. This is a fantastic discovery and one that should make many happy. Ideally Goliaths would start predating on them.

RennieRae

Thank goodness they taste good! Think if they were not edible, then there would be no "added benefit" for helping to control the population. Glad to see its a viable commercial species.

I ate my first one in Bonaire a few summers ago and it was fantastic (I thought it was just a ploy to get people to eat them/control population before that). Good stuff!

Fletch

The local restaurant prepares them whole. I wanted to sample some of the fish we dropped off but they sold out too quickly. This is an article that ran after we dropped off our fish.

http://www.mynews13.com/content/news/cfnews13/on-the-town/article.html/content/news/articles/cfn/2015/2/15/lionfish_for_dinner.html#.VODBJB0fq0I.facebook

rock_fish

Grouper wasn't scared of the divers at all

snake 166

Grouper would have to be really fired up to eat a lionfish---might be his last meal.

DrK

Interesting how the grouper ate the lionfish. He was all the time trying to position himself in front of the lionfish while the lionfish was presenting it's spines to protect itself. I can't make out if the grouper nipped the lionfish on the back but somehow stunned it just before swallowing it. Reminded me of a sonic pulse that porpoises use to stun prey. What did you guys see?

SouthFloridaAngler

Lucky7Team2

DrK wrote: »

Interesting how the grouper ate the lionfish. He was all the time trying to position himself in front of the lionfish while the lionfish was presenting it's spines to protect itself. I can't make out if the grouper nipped the lionfish on the back but somehow stunned it just before swallowing it. Reminded me of a sonic pulse that porpoises use to stun prey. What did you guys see?

That's what I mentioned. It was obvious learned behavior as he used the surface to cut off his angle. Looks like he hit it in a spot with few spines and stunned it. Then ate it head first. This is great news.

Polar

SouthFloridaAngler wrote: »

:rotflmao

Machine Head

Dead?

King_Me

SouthFloridaAngler wrote: »

Ummmm.....he died today supposedly from eating a lion fish :grin

gettinwet

Large pinfish are my go to grouper bait and they have lots of spines too...........big grouper love lobsters..........so I wouldn't think spines would be a deterrent........but I wouldn't think Lionfish are on a grouper's natural menu. That said, grouper are aggressive........and as far as passing on learned behavior..........I read somewhere that some animals (so not sure if this applies to fish) pass on critical behavior in their genes (modified through natural selection - e.g. if there are lots of lionfish around and you are the only grouper on the reef to eat them because you are naturally more aggressive and less cautious then you are going to be the biggest baddest grouper around after awhile due to the abundant food source and will leave more eggs with your genes over time so more groupers with traits that would lead them to eat Lionfish are reproduced).

RStyle

Had them raw, fried and baked in Honduras and it is an amazingly good fish to eat

Divemasters on the trip would feed them wounded to eels, groupers and sharks and they ate them without any problem.
Unfortunately in some places that sharks are being fed, the sharks now associate a diver with free lion fish meals so they tend to hang closer to the divers

The deeper you go, the bigger they get. The biggest we got were between 100-120 feet. Wonder if there are any at 200-300ft.

chubasco

rock_fish wrote: »

Grouper wasn't scared of the divers at all

Filmed in Little Cayman. No fishing so no fear.

lowe-boy

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=571_1422068833

rock_fish

chubasco wrote: »

Filmed in Little Cayman. No fishing so no fear.

Ash. Interesting