Delicious Lionfish

[Reef_Geek]

A dive instructor I used to work with is now in Jamaica working on getting a dive operation started at the Rhodes Resort near Negril. From time to time, I get to live vicariously through his GoPro videos.

His latest... lion fish hunting with Hawaiian slings.
http://youtu.be/w9YwEpPFvZg

Before anyone gets too offended though, I will preface this with--

Lionfish, including Pterois volitans, naturally occurs in the Pacific and has never naturally occurred in the Atlantic prior to release and introduction by humans, almost definitely related to the live importation and trade activities of the aquarium business. Their establishment of breeding populations in the Atlantic has negative impacts on natural populations, especially due to the lack of predators (on adults and young) that are normally present in the Pacific.

Here are some scientific references on the issue.

http://www.vetofish.com/sites/vetofish.com/files/actu/attachment/invasive_indo-pacific_lionfish_pterois_volitans_reduce_recruitme nt_of_atlantic_coral-reef_fishes.pdf

http://www.int-res.com/articles/meps2002/235/m235p289

http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10641-011-9795-1#page-1

If you take no offense to this, I'll let you know, apparently lionfish fillets are quite tasty. Hopefully I'll get to visit and try lionfish tacos one day.

[hillegom]

Thanks for sharing

[iceman86]

Awesome clip. I miss diving in Jamaica

[FishingGoalie]

Haha thats awesome we go to Grand Cayman every year a few times a year because my aunt and uncle live there, anyway we get to spearfish them then when we come up after our first dive the person who watches the boat will cook us Seviche with lion fish so when we finish our second dive we come up and get to eat it. IT IS SOO GOOD. For you guys who dont know what Seviche is it is when you cook a fish in the acids of fruits and Veggies.

[reefermadness]

They are hardy bass tards too.....they have been spotted as far North as long island New York.

[Reef_Geek]

lol! Lionfish ceviche sounds delicious.

Just a quick google search... and you get recipes for cooking lionfish!

http://www.lionfishhunters.org/Recipes.html

I wonder if anyone out there has tried making a spicy lionfish roll... :lol:

[FishingGoalie]

hehehehehe it is sooo good i dont know if i would eat tank ones though.

[Reef_Geek]

hehehehehe it is sooo good i dont know if i would eat tank ones though.

yeah, unless I were looking for supplemental copper in my diet... maybe a boost in methylene blue levels...

[paddyob]

My cousin lives in Bermuda. He said they have an annual Lion fish competition and cook off.

As you mentioned, they are pests in the Caribbean and area. They obliterate natural species in the area. He said you can legally kill a lion fish ANY time you see one. Even on protected reefs.

And he said its very tasty.

[paddyob]

Haha thats awesome we go to Grand Cayman every year a few times a year because my aunt and uncle live there, anyway we get to spearfish them then when we come up after our first dive the person who watches the boat will cook us Seviche with lion fish so when we finish our second dive we come up and get to eat it. IT IS SOO GOOD. For you guys who dont know what Seviche is it is when you cook a fish in the acids of fruits and Veggies.



I heard it takes many hours for ceviche to be prepared. Properly anyhow.

[untamed]

I was diving in Belize a few weeks back... On my first dive, we had two large triggerfish follow us for the entire dive. I asked the dive master if she knew those fish personally. They were looking for lionfish handouts!

On the subsequent dives, we speared three or four, which were happily devoured by our companions.

[Treebeard]

The dive masters in Cozumel were also spearing them and feeding them to the triggers. The hope is that the triggers will eventually hunt live ones.

I was diving in Belize a few weeks back... On my first dive, we had two large triggerfish follow us for the entire dive. I asked the dive master if she knew those fish personally. They were looking for lionfish handouts!

On the subsequent dives, we speared three or four, which were happily devoured by our companions.

[Scuba Diver Gal]

As divers we have speared many many lion fish and eaten even more. It's absolutely delicious! On Grand Cayman they encourage tourists to request lion fish on menus in restaurant to encourage more lion fish culls. So when traveling order lion fish.

We were diving in South Pacific where lion fish are supposed to be, they have natural predators there so you don't see them very often.

In grand cayman where we dive there are so many lion fish despite the culling. Divers are trying to train the predator fish to eat them, such as snappers and groupers. However they seem to just follow divers around the reef mooching. Hopefully one of these species will figure it out but for now their only predator is humans with spear guns.

We have spent some time at Little Cayman Marine Research Institute and they always are checking what the lion fish are eating etc. It's alarming how much these things eat off the reef. And they eat EVERYTHING!!! Check out their research and website at reefresearch.org

My son (fishingoalie) wants to study marine sciences...I'd love him to spend some time studying on Little Cayman at the research institute.

Eat lion fish!

[Treebeard]

Where have you been diving where you are allowed to spear them? Everyplace I have dove only the DMs are allowed.

[Scuba Diver Gal]

Grand cayman...we have our spear gun certification. I don't do it my son and husband do. We are always with a dive master as we don't travel with our own spear

[Treebeard]

Sounds like fun! My wife used to be a DM in Grand Cayman before she came to Canada.