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Lionfish Cruise 2006

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You are here: Home › Stressors › Invasive Species › Lionfish › Lionfish Cruise 2006 › Day 4

Day 4: 7-30-06

The seas and wind finally calmed overnight allowing for a productive day of fish collection and surveying.  Four dives were conducted on a live rock area approximately 65 miles southwest of Beaufort Inlet.  

Survey and collection dives

The four dive sites were all located along the same rocky ledge, giving us a nice perspective on an extensive area of the ledge.  Numerous lionfish were observed on each dive as well as many other tropical fishes including grunts and groupers, and lobsters.  Upwelling of colder, nutrient rich waters near the bottom greatly reduced underwater visibility for the divers as well as challenged their thermal tolerance.  Over 30 lionfish were collected today. 

Topside activities

Dissections revealed that many of the lionfish from the second dive site had recently feasted on juvenile grunts. 

A number of hydrated ovaries we also observed during the fish dissection, indicating that these females were likely to spawn within the next 24 hours.  We have yet to find a male with milt, a milky substance containing fish sperm, in the testes, which would signify active spawning by males.  We’ll continue our search tomorrow. 

Photo:  Norbert Wu and a lionfish.  Norbert is collecting high definition underwater video for EISF (http://eisf.org) to document and enhance public awareness of the lionfish invasion and North Carolina habitats.  Note the low light and high particulates in the photo.  This is from the upwelling experienced on our dives today.  Photo credit:  Doug Kesling

Photo:  Stomach contents from a single lionfish.  This fish was approximately 10 inches in length and had over 20 fish in its stomach, many of which had been eaten recently.  The stomach content confirms what we have seen in our visual prey fish survey transects - many little grunts make a good meal for lionfish.  Photo credit:  Curtis W. Calloway

Photo:  Curtis W. Calloway, our topside photographer, took this close-up of a hydrated lionfish ovary.  When a female is ready to spawn, the ripe eggs become transparent and almost watery.  The small opaque granules in the center of the image are individual eggs.