Invasive Indo-Pacific lionfish Pterois volitans reduce recruitment of Atlantic coral-reef fishes

By M. Albins, M. Hixon. 2008

554 citations recorded by the source corpus.

The Indo-Pacific lionfish Pterois volitans, introduced to Florida waters in the early 1990s, is currently spreading rapidly throughout the Caribbean region. This invasive carnivore may cause deleterious changes in coral-reef ecosystems via predation on native fishes and invertebrates as well as competition with native predators. We conducted a controlled field experiment using a matrix of translocated coral and artificial patch reefs to examine the short-term effects of lionfish on the recruit- ment of native reef fishes in the Bahamas. Lionfish caused significant reductions in the recruitment of native fishes by an average of 79% over the 5 wk duration of the experiment. This strong effect on a key life stage of coral-reef fishes suggests that invasive lionfish are already having substantial nega- tive impacts on Atlantic coral reefs. While complete eradication of lionfish in the Atlantic is likely impossible, it would be prudent to initiate focused lionfish control efforts in strategic locations.

Subfields: Ecology, Global and Planetary Change, Paleontology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a4898a8dddd0cec47e0eb4105fa265dceac38320

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Ecology

In Global and Planetary Change

In Paleontology

Citations in the corpus

Conservation and management of ornamental coral reef wildlife: Successes, shortcomings, and future directions (2014, background): “…eat large quantities of native fishes resulting in reduced recruitment of Atlantic coral reef fishes, competition with native predators such as grouper, reduction of grazers like surgeonfish and parrotfish, and concomitant ecological changes (Albins and Hixon, 2008; Lesser and Slattery, 2011).”
A framework to study the context-dependent impacts of marine invasions (2011, background): “For example, impacts of invasive lionfish (Albins and Hixon, 2008) may be driven by the species' specific toxin or attackbehavior (attributes that only are relevant to measure for lionfish invasions).”
Effects of invasive Pacific red lionfish Pterois volitans versus a native predator on Bahamian coral-reef fish communities (2012, background): “…changes in native ecosystems (Friedlander et al. 2002; Bariche et al. 2004; Goren and Galil 2005; Schumacher and Parrish 2005; Dierking et al. 2009), unequivocal causal linkages between these introductions and observed changes in native systems are lacking (but see Albins and Hixon 2008).”
Effectiveness of lionfish removal efforts in the Southern Caribbean (2013, background): “…Western Atlantic, various management agencies have proposed measures to reduce and/or control the local lionfish abundance to reduce their negative impact on native fish populations (Albins & Hixon 2008, Côté & Maljković 2010, Arias-González et al. 2011, Green et al. 2011, Muñoz et al. 2011).”
Predator–prey dynamics between recently established stone crabs (Menippe spp.) and oyster prey (Crassostrea virginica) (2011, background): “The introduction and colonization of the Indo-Pacific lionfish (Pterois volitans) to Atlantic reef communities (Albins and Hixon, 2008) resulted in predation on native fishes and reduced recruitment of those fish species to the reef by an average of 79%.”
Geographic extent and chronology of the invasion of non-native lionfish (Pterois volitans (Linnaeus 1758) and P. miles (Bennett 1828)) in the Western North Atlantic and Caribbean Sea (2009, background): “At this time it is unclear what effects this new addition will have on native communities, and because the invasion is so recent there are few ecological studies of its impact (but see Albins and Hixon 2008).”
Diet richness of invasive Indo-Pacific lionfish revealed by DNA barcoding (2013, background): “, and reduce significantly the recruitment and biomass of native reef fishes (Albins & Hixon 2008, Green et al. 2012).”
Non-linear effects of invasive lionfish density on native coral-reef fish communities (2015, background): “A single lionfish on a 1–4 m2 patch reef can reduce the abundance of small [B50 mm total length (TL)] native fishes by 80–90 % in as few as 5 weeks (Albins and Hixon 2008; Albins 2013).”
Mangrove use by the invasive lionfish Pterois volitans (2010, background): “As lionfish have been shown to drastically reduce reef fish recruitment (Albins & Hixon 2008), it is highly likely that their presence in mangrove habitat poses an immediate threat to economically and ecologically important fish families (e.g. Scaridae, Serranidae) utilizing mangrove systems as…”
Reconstructing the lionfish invasion: insights into Greater Caribbean biogeography (2011, background): “Lionfish are voracious predators that feed on post-settlement reef fishes, causing severe but poorly understood impacts on native coral reef diversity (Albins & Hixon, 2008).”
Assessing the ‘deep reef refugia’ hypothesis: focus on Caribbean reefs (2010, background): “The threat of the lionfish is currently considered to be restricted to fish communities (Albins and Hixon 2008; Green and Cote 2009) but could potentially have an indirect impact (e.”
Feeding ecology of invasive lionfish (Pterois volitans) in the Bahamian archipelago (2009, background): “More recently, Albins and Hixon (2008) reported a list of nine species consumed by invasive lionfish in the Bahamas.”
Recent invasion of a Florida (USA) estuarine system by lionfish Pterois volitans / P. miles. (2011, background): “On coral reefs, invasive lionfish have been shown to reduce recruitment of native fishes by nearly 80% over a 5 wk period (Albins & Hixon 2008); similar predation rates in estuaries could have major, yet undocumented, effects, particularly for species that rely on estuarine systems as nursery…”
Worst case scenario: potential long-term effects of invasive predatory lionfish (Pterois volitans) on Atlantic and Caribbean coral-reef communities (2011, background): “Other reef fishes affected by lionfish predation include important food species, such as groupers, snappers, and goatfishes (Albins and Hixon 2008; Morris and Akins 2009).”
Coping with the Lionfish Invasion: Can Targeted Removals Yield Beneficial Effects? (2012, background): “…for example, lionfish on experimental patch reefs reduced recruitment of native reef fishes that serve as forage for important fishery species by an average of 79% (Albins and Hixon, 2008), and lionfish reduced the total biomass of 42 prey species by 65% on 9 natural reefs (Green et al., 2012).”
Comparative behavior of red lionfish Pterois volitans on native Pacific versus invaded Atlantic coral reefs. (2012, background): “As observed for invasive lionfish (Albins & Hixon 2008, Green et al. 2011), native prey may exhibit weak or nonexistent res ponses to newly introduced predators (Cox & Lima 2006, Smith et al. 2008).”
Characterizing trophic ecology of generalist consumers: a case study of the invasive lionfish in The Bahamas (2012, methodology): “First, a core criterion for applying specialization models is that the prey collected for isotope analysis must, both spatially and temporally, be reflective of those prey on which the consumer individuals actually fed (Araújo et al. 2007, 2011, Layman et al. 2011).”