Abstract
Invasion of the western Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico by the Indo-Pacific lionfish, Pterois volitans/miles (Scopaenidae), has caused well-documented critical changes to coral reef ecosystems throughout the region. Most efforts to quantify these changes have focused on the charismatic adult stage; much less is known about the pelagic larval stage. While dispersal by the larval stage has likely been the main contributor to the rapid population expansion throughout the region, there are very few documented cases of larvae being collected anywhere in the invaded region where adult lionfish are abundant. We compared ichthyoplankton collected using identical sampling gear from the Straits of Florida in 2007–2008 (pre-lionfish population expansion to the Florida Keys) to those collected in 2014–2015 (during the ongoing expansion), providing the opportunity to test for a temporal change in the ichthyoplankton. Despite a substantially greater sampling effort in 2007–2008 [total of 938,126 m3 of water sampled compared to approximately 144,013 m3 (~ 15%) sampled in 2014–2015], we collected no lionfish larvae in 2007–2008, whereas in 2014–2015, 76 larvae were collected. The overall mean density in 2014–2015 of 0.4–0.7 lionfish larvae 1000 m−3 is comparable to a number of common reef fish families and is likely beginning to have an ecological impact on plankton constituents. As the invasion continues, additional studies of the ecological role of lionfish larvae in the plankton are warranted.
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Photo credit: Cedric Guigand, University of Miami
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Acknowledgements
We thank the scientific party and R/V Walton Smith crew for their contributions to the field sampling. We are particularly grateful to Cedric Guigand who participated in the cruises and took the photo of the live lionfish larva collected in 2015. We thank the many lab assistants and volunteers who helped with sample collection and processing over the years as well as expert advice on larval fish identification from Joel Llopiz. We are indebted to Peter Konstantinidis at Oregon State University and Emma Jugovich and Estrella Malca at NOAA’s Southeast Fisheries Science Center for assistance in confirming the identification of lionfish larvae. National Science Foundation (NSF) OCE Grant 0550732 supported the collection and processing of the 2007–2008 samples, and NSF OCE Grant 1419987 supported the 2014–2015 study. Raw collection data are available at www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/661268.
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Sponaugle, S., Gleiber, M.R., Shulzitski, K. et al. There’s a new kid in town: lionfish invasion of the plankton. Biol Invasions 21, 3013–3018 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-019-02070-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-019-02070-1