Invasion
Invasion Description
1st Record: Blue Hole , Yellow Banks (East of New Providence Island)/Bahamas/Atlantic Ocean (2004, USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Program 2008)
Geographic Extent
Patch Reef adjacent to the Caribbean Marine Research Center, Lee Stocking Island/Bahamas/Atlantic Ocean (2005, USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Program 2008); Eleuthera Island/Bahamas/ Atlantic Ocean (2005, USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Program 2008); Cayo Coco,/Cuba/Atlantic Ocean (2007, USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Program 2008); South Caicos Island/Turks and Caicos Islands/Caribbean Sea (2007, Claydon et al. 2012)
Vectors
| Level | Vector |
|---|---|
| Alternate | Natural Dispersal |
| Alternate | Pet Release |
Regional Impacts
| Ecological Impact | Predation | |
| In transplantation experiments, patch reefs with a transplanted lionfish had reduced recruitment of juvenile native fishes. Juvenile native fishes were found in the lionfishes' gut contents (Albins and Hixon 2008; Albins et al. 2017). Mortality rates in a small fish, Gramma loreto (Fairy Basslet) greatly increased after the lionfish invasion, compared with a pre-invasion experiment (Ingeman and Webster 2015). In later experiments, in which prey and lionfish densities were maipulated, some low-density basslet populations were extirpated by lionfish predation (Ingeman et al. 2016). Isotopic values (15N, 13C) values varied, but shopwed an increasing trophic niche and diversity for large lionfish (Malpici-Cruz et al. 2019). Juveniles of the native Striped Parrotfish (Scarus iseri) have an unlearned response to Nassau Grouper (Epinephelus striatus but have to learn avoidance of Pterois spp. (Berchtold and Cote 2020). | ||
| Ecological Impact | Habitat Change | |
| Predation by lionfish has decreased local populations of herbivorous fishes, resulting in increased macroalgal populations at deeper depths, resulting in declines of corals and sponges (Lesser and Slattery 2011). | ||
| Ecological Impact | Trophic Cascade | |
| Predation by lionfish has decreased local populations of herbivorous fishes, resulting in increased macroalgal populations at deeper depths, resulting in declines of corals and sponges (Lesser and Slattery 2011). Predation by Lionfish resulted in reduced grazing by herbivorous fishes on algae, both through direct predation, but also by inducing behavioral changes, with reduced abundances of small fishes in the presence of lionfish (Kindinger and Albins 2016). Differential predation affected competitive relations between planktivorous fairy and blackcap basslets (Gramma loreto and Gramma melacara) (Kindinger 2018). Predation by lionfish affected the abundance of one abundant cleaner fish (Thalassoma bifasciatum, Bluehead Wrass), but did not affect another Elacatinus genie (Cleaner Goby). Cleaner fishes affect the health and social behavior of coral reef fish communities by removing parasites (Tuttle 2017), | ||