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Lionfish Field Research off North Carolina

This study is supported by NOAA's Undersea Research Center in Wilmington and is designed to

  • Increase our understanding of the number of lionfish in North Carolina habitats
  •  Characterize their ecological role
    • what are they eating,
    •  how and where  are they reproducing
  • Determine if temperature is a limiting factor in their distribution.

This information will allow us to assess and possibly predict the risk these invaders pose to their new Atlantic communities. lionfish collection


Date and Location of Field Operations:
August 2 - August 6, 2004, Onslow Bay, North Carolina
August 9 - August 12, 2004, Onslow Bay, North Carolina
August 16 - August 19, 2004, Onslow Bay, North Carolina

Make up days scheduled  Aug 26, 27 and Sept 1- 3, 2004.

Principal Investigator: Paula E. Whitfield
NOAA/NOS
Center for Fisheries and Habitat Research
Mission Coordinator: Doug Kesling,
NOAA
NURC in Wilmington

lionfish

We will conduct surveys in hard bottom habitats within the coastal offshore waters  of North Carolina in water depths of  115 to 150 feet.  Preliminary research and observations suggest that lionfish will be limited in their inshore distribution by winter bottom water temperatures. Their existing distribution for the past 4 years adds support to this theory. In North Carolina the farther offshore you travel the closer you are to the warm, clear waters of the Gulf Stream. We expect that lionfish will be able to over-winter in water depths greater than 120 ft. During each leg of the mission NOAA and NURC divers aboard the RV Cape Fear research vessel will venture out Masonboro Inlet near the NURC/UNCW facility and travel anywhere from 35 to 100 miles within Onslow Bay, NC (see NC map) to reach habitat that may be colonized by lionfish. Weather permitting the RV Cape Fear will stay offshore each week for 5 days. Some of the sites are known to harbor lionfish. But most of the sites are relatively unexplored by SCUBA divers and known only to fishermen.