Volume 68
Do Invasive Lionfish Affect the Diet and Condition of Native Mesopredators?
Authors
Curtis, J., M. Albins, and C. Stallings Download PDF Open PDF in BrowserOther Information
Date: November, 2015
Pages: 171 - 173
Event: Proceedings of the Sixty eigth Annual Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute
City: Panama City
Country: Panama
Abstract
One of the primary threats posed by invasive Indo-Pacific Lionfishes (Pterois volitans and P. miles) is the potential for competition with native predators. While previous studies have demonstrated overlap in resource use between Lionfish and other predators (OFarrell et al. 2014), few have empirically measured the strength or effects of resulting interspecific competition (Raymond et al. 2014). On coral reefs in southeast Florida, one of the most likely competitors of Lionfish is a small grouper species, the Graysby (Cephalopholis cruentata). Lionfish and Graysby are similarly sized mesopredators, are both generalist foragers, and undergo comparable ontogenetic diet shifts from invertebrate to teleost prey (Shpigel and Fishelson 1989).