A hotspot of non-native marine fishes: evidence for the aquarium trade as an invasion pathway

Abstract

Invasions of non-native species in marine ecosystems can be ecologically damaging and economically costly. Identifying 'hot-spots' of non-native species and their sources of introduction is necessary to maximize the effectiveness of invasion quarantine programs. We use a large spatially explicit marine fish database to show that there are a surprising number of non-native fishes on the reefs of southeast Florida, USA. Two likely sources explain the occurrence of non-native marine fishes in this region: introductions through ballast-water exchange, and introductions from aquaria. Data on international shipping patterns and marine fish imports were used to evaluate the culpability of these 2 vectors. Our results suggest that the introductions are the result of aquarium releases. Prevention of further releases and invasions will require education, outreach, and enforcement efforts directed at marine aquarists and the aquarium industry.

Coping with the Lionfish Invasion: Can Targeted Removals Yield Beneficial Effects?

“…Regardless of the source, lionfish are now firmly established throughout the western Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico (Schofield, 2009(Schofield, , 2010Schofield et al, 2011). From 1985 to 2001, they spread up the Atlantic seaboard from Dania Beach, Florida (Semmens et al, 2004;Whitfield et al, 2007;Morris and Akins, 2009). A rapid expansion through the Caribbean followed, with reports from Bermuda in 2000 (Whitfield et al, 2002), the Bahamas in 2004 (Snyder and Burgess, 2006), Cuba in 2005, and the Turks and Caicos Islands in 2006 (Schofield, 2009).…”

Oogenesis and spawn formation in the invasive lionfish, <i>Pterois miles</i> and <i>Pterois volitans</i>

“…miles and P. volitans are two of nine recognized species in the genus Pterois and can be distinguished from one another only by fin ray meristics (Schultz, 1986) or by analysis of mitochondrial DNA sequences (Hamner et al, 2007;Morris and Freshwater, 2008). In the United States, lionfish are imported as an ornamental reef fish (Semmens et al, 2004;Ruiz-Carus et al, 2006) and they were most likely introduced into Atlantic waters from the Indo-Pacific by recreational or commercial aquarists (Hare and Whitfield, 2003;Ruiz-Carus et al, 2006;). Lionfish are dispersed as planktonic larvae by oceanographic currents (Ahrenholz and Morris, 2010) and densities are capable of reaching well over 400 lionfish per hectare in the offshore waters of North Carolina, U.S.A. (Whitfield et al, 2002;) and in the Bahamas (Green and Côté, 2008), with higher densities observed in the Atlantic than ever reported in their native range in the Indo-Pacific.…”

Early phase of the invasion of Balanus glandula along the coast of Eastern Hokkaido: changes in abundance, distribution, and recruitment

“…Even a few such successful and growing populations may contribute greatly to range expansion. The supply of larvae from a hotspot, a small portion of the locations with remarkably high abundance, plays an important role in range expansion (Semmens et al 2004;Leslie et al 2005;Ruiz et al 2011). Indeed, the temporal pattern in the coverage at A1 was similar to that of the mean population coverage.…”