The Indo-Pacific lionfish Pterois volitans, introduced to Florida waters in the early 1990s, is currently spreading rapidly throughout the Caribbean region. This invasive carnivore may cause deleterious changes in coral-reef ecosystems via predation on native fishes and invertebrates as well as competition with native predators. We conducted a controlled field experiment using a matrix of translocated coral and artificial patch reefs to examine the short-term effects of lionfish on the recruitment of native reef fishes in the Bahamas. Lionfish caused significant reductions in the recruitment of native fishes by an average of 79% over the 5 wk duration of the experiment. This strong effect on a key life stage of coral-reef fishes suggests that invasive lionfish are already having substantial negative impacts on Atlantic coral reefs. While complete eradication of lionfish in the Atlantic is likely impossible, it would be prudent to initiate focused lionfish control efforts in strategic locations.

Invasive lionfish (Pterois miles and Pterois volitans) continue to thrive in the western Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea and most recently the Mediterranian. Their success has been attributed to their environmental tolerance, broad appetite, high fecundity, prey naivety, and lack of predators. However, lionfish populations have been shown to be successfully managed through their removal with the most common method being spearfishing. However, this method is limited to areas that are easily accessible to divers, thus largely ineffective as a large-scale fishery. Yet, there has been other accounts of lionfish being successfully captured with other fishing gears. This study compiled sources from scholarly journals, press releases, and nonprofit scientific organizations and searched for methods used to successfully remove lionfish within the invaded area. Results show that the most popular removal method was spearing (45%) followed by handnet (37%). The remaining removal gears were fish trap (5%), hook and line (5%), trawl (3%), lobster trap (2%), and other (1%). This review illuminates other lesser known methods successfully used to remove lionfish with hopes to evoke new management options to combat the future of the lionfish invasion.

Acceptance of marine protected areas (MPAs) as fishery and conservation tools has been hampered by lack of direct evidence that MPAs successfully seed unprotected areas with larvae of targeted species. For the first time, we present direct evidence of large-scale population connectivity within an existing and effective network of MPAs. A new parentage analysis identified four parent-offspring pairs from a large, exploited population of the coral-reef fish Zebrasoma flavescens in Hawai'i, revealing larval dispersal distances ranging from 15 to 184 km. In two cases, successful dispersal was from an MPA to unprotected sites. Given high adult abundances, the documentation of any parent-offspring pairs demonstrates that ecologically-relevant larval connectivity between reefs is substantial. All offspring settled at sites to the north of where they were spawned. Satellite altimetry and oceanographic models from relevant time periods indicated a cyclonic eddy that created prevailing northward currents between sites where parents and offspring were found. These findings empirically demonstrate the effectiveness of MPAs as useful conservation and management tools and further highlight the importance of coupling oceanographic, genetic, and ecological data to predict, validate and quantify larval connectivity among marine populations.

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Pacific red lionfish Pterois volitans, introduced to Atlantic waters in the 1980s, represent a particularly successful invasive marine predator with strong effects on native prey. Previous experiments examining the effects of lionfish on native fish communities have been conducted on small patch reefs. However, the effects of lionfish on native reef-fish communities over larger spatial scales -scales at which conservation and management efforts are typically applied -have not been examined experimentally. Beginning in June 2009, I conducted a large-scale field experiment near Lee Stocking Island, Bahamas. Ten large (1400 to 4000 m 2 ) coral reefs were paired based on location and similarity of habitat, and baseline surveys of their fish communities were conducted. Quarterly removals of lionfish were then conducted on 1 reef in each pair, while the densities of lionfish on the other reefs were standardized at typical post-invasion levels. Through August 2010, quarterly surveys showed that lionfish caused significant changes in native reef-fish communities, including reductions in the total density (up to 46.3 ± 13.7%, mean ± SEM), biomass (31.9 ± 10.7%), and species richness (21.4 ± 9.1%) of prey-sized fishes (all individuals <10 cm total length). Lionfish also caused substantial reductions in the biomass of prey-sized herbivorous fishes (33.9 ± 16.0%) and piscivores (98.6 ± 39.5%). However, these negative effects on small fish did not translate to observable declines in a larger size-class (all individuals 10 to 20 cm total length) over the 14 mo study period.Resale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisher Editorial responsibility: Tim McClanahan,