Diel Activity Patterns and Movement of Invasive Lionfish (Pterois volitans/P. miles) in the Florida Keys Identified Using Acoustic Telemetry

Abstract

The invasion of Indo-Pacific lionfish (Pterois volitans/P. miles) throughout the Caribbean and southeastern U.S. Atlantic represents a significant ecological threat, yet few studies have examined the daily activity and movement patterns of this invasive species. In this study, passive acoustic telemetry was used to track lionfish at 4 coral reef sites in the Florida Keys. Fourteen lionfish were tagged among the 4 sites, and the total number of days tagged fish were detected ranged from 5 to 141 days. Hourly detection data revealed diel activity patterns with peaks at dawn and dusk. Mixed model analysis of detection data indicated a significant effect of time of day, with lionfish activity greater at twilight than during day or night. These results support observations from previous studies that lionfish are most active at dawn and dusk when they are foraging. The 95% kernel utilization distribution home range size ranged from 360-18,812 m 2. Lionfish movements were generally localized, with mean daily distance moved ranging from 24-116 m, although one lionfish had a maximum daily distance moved of 427 m. Short-term activity centers revealed possible diel shifts in micro-habitat use for 2 lionfish, as well as an emigration of one lionfish to an adjacent patch reef ~2 00 m away. These findings increase our understanding of lionfish behavior on coral reefs and highlight the need for more detailed studies examining fine-scale habitat use and movements across more habitat types. The results from this study will further contribute to the spatial information required to improve the effectiveness of monitoring and controlling lionfish populations in the Florida Keys.

Grouper Tales: Use of Acoustic Telemetry to Evaluate Grouper Movements at Western Dry Rocks in the Florida Keys

“…; McCallister et al. ). Detection rate was calculated as the number of detections heard in an hour divided by the maximum number of detections possible in an hour.…”

“…Because numerous biological, environmental, and anthropogenic factors can affect the transmission of an acoustic signal (particularly in rugose coral reef habitat), we evaluated the effect of distance, habitat, and time of day on the detection range of the receivers deployed around the WDR bar to avoid misinterpreting patterns in detections (McCallister et al 2018). Four Vemco VR2Tx receivers were placed along a north/south line spanning the WDR bar, and two VR2W receivers in the box array were replaced with VR2Tx receivers ( Figure S.2).…”

“…To examine the effects of habitat (sand or reef), distance between transmitter and receiver, and hour (time of day) on the detection rate, a generalized linear mixed model (GLMM) with a binomial distribution was used with both date and transmitter ID as random effects (Farmer et al 2013;McCallister et al 2018). Detection rate was calculated as the number of detections heard in an hour divided by the maximum number of detections possible in an hour.…”

Behavioural traits and feeding ecology of Mediterranean lionfish and native species naiveté to lionfish predation

“…This hypothesis may be corroborated by the common findings of nocturnal prey species in Mediterranean lionfish stomach contents (Zannaki et al 2019, Nir Stern personal communication) and by studies showing nocturnal behaviour in Red Sea lionfish (Fishelson 1975, McTee & Grubich 2014). However, studies on invasive Atlantic lionfish report little or no nocturnal activity (Green et al 2011, McCallister et al 2018), suggesting potential differences in nocturnal behaviour between lionfish in natal vs invaded habitats. Further studies are needed to shed light on this potentially important behavioural trait.…”

Under pressure: comparing in situ and boat tagging methods using time-to-event analyses

“…Lindholm et al [22] used saturation diving from the Aquarius underwater laboratory in the Florida Keys to internally tag fish, and Tuohy et al [43] used closed circuit rebreathers. Recently, Feeley et al [12], McCallister et al [26], Bryan et al [4], and Keller et al [18] all describe internally tagging reef fish in situ.…”