Abstract

The red lionfish, Pterois volitans (Linnaeus, 1758), introduced to the coral reefs of the Western Atlantic due to aquarium practices, has invaded the Atlantic coast of US, the Caribbean Sea, and recently the Gulf of Mexico. Its introduction represents a potential threat to the fishery resources, native organisms, and human health. In this work we determined and compared body morphometrics (weight-length, length-length and condition factor) of this invasive fish in the Parque Nacional Arrecife Alacranes (PNAA) in the Southern Gulf of Mexico and in Mahahual, in the Mexican Caribbean. Lionfish were voluntarily speared by lobster diver-fishers and fish were analyzed at the laboratory. For the PNAA, 459 fish were captured during two lobster fishing season (July 2010 - February 2011, July 2011 - December 2011) and body size ranged 90 - 350 mm TL. Length-weight relationships (LWRs) for season 1 was W = 2.77739E-06 + L 3.30088) and for season 2 W = 1.63544E-06 + L 3.34729, while the condition factor (K) ranged 0.9791 to 1.9785. In Mahahual, 73 fish were obtained (November 2010-April 2011) and their body size ranged 43 - 250 mm TL. Their LWR was W = 3.05296E-06 + L 3.22867) and K ranged 0.9140 to 0.9862. All LWR showed an isometric growth coefficient with a correlation coefficient of 0.94. There was no significant differences among the LWRs for the juvenile lionfish in both sites (p < 0.05). The lionfish has been adapted, in terms of growth and weight, to the environmental conditions of both regions. These values are important to contribute into the research of growth of the invasive lionfish in Mexico.

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