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Lionfish found at depth off Florida

Lionfish ©Adam Hanlon

The submersible Antipodes has just found significant concentrations of invasive lionfish (Pterois sp.) at depths of between 100 and 265 ft off Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The fish are very efficient predators and since 1985, when they were first sighted in Florida, have been out-competing native species for prey.

Control measures have so far used recreational divers to catch the fish, however, the Antipodes’s survey found relatively few of them at depths within recreational depth ranges. By contrast, there were significant concentrations at deeper depths. An article in Huffington Post suggests that there is currently no effective control measures deployed at these depths.