The lionfish team recently completed their quarterly surveys of lionfish and other reef fish in the patch reef system of South Eleuthera, part of a longterm study.
This time around the team saw a few unfamiliar fish species on the reef. First on the list are juvenile Bluelip parrotfish; these fish are not a usual site on the reefs and this may be the first time they were spotted in these parts. Next the team saw the spotted hawk fish; which can be difficult to identify. Lastly, a Bandtailed puffer popped in on one of the surveys. Sadly the Bigeye that has been hanging out on one patch for the last nine months had moved on.
A total 91 lionfish were spotted from the 16 sites visited over the four days of diving. However,the team speared/netted 30 of those lionfish from removal reefs! The biggest one caught was 27 cm long and the smallest was 4 cm. Interestingly, they caught quite a few lionfish that were under 10 cm, which is great that they can remove the little ones off the reef before they have a chance to reproduce.