(acoustic music)
♪ ♪
Hey! It's me, Sam, and I'm here at REEF headquarters
in Key Largo, Florida,
ready to find out about a fish
that's been invading the waters.
This beautiful but skilled predator will eat anything
that comes in its path... the lionfish.
(dramatic percussion)
Its population is exploding, and we've got to find out why.
LAD: This is where all the work happens, right here.
♪ ♪
(energetic music)
♪ ♪
SAM: The lionfish is beautiful, with striking features.
Its population is growing
here in Florida, and all around the U.S.
Native to the tropical waters
of the Indian and Pacific oceans,
lionfish were first spotted far away from home
in the Atlantic Ocean 15 years ago.
It is believed that humans are responsible
for the release of these fish from aquariums
into the wild. These skilled predators' big appetite
is impacting the health
of our oceans.
I'm here at REEF, the Reef Environmental Education Foundation,
meeting up with Lad Akins, the director of special projects,
to find out more about this spectacular fish.
-Hi, Sam. I'm Lad. -Nice to meet you.
-Welcome to REEF headquarters. -Can you show me around?
♪ ♪
This is one of our offices. This is where all the work happens, right here.
SAM: Very cool. So, what is everybody doing?
LAD: Well, how about if
I let you come around
-and meet the staff? -SAM: Sure.
-I'm Sam. -Hi. I'm Amy.
Nice to meet you. What are you doing?
I plan dive locations for people all over the world
-to go and collect fish survey data. -Wow.
That's super awesome. Where are you planning a dive right now?
AMY: The next trip we have
is to Curaçao,
and then we are also running one
-to the Sea of Cortez. -SAM: Oh, cool.
-Where is Curaçao? -AMY: In the Caribbean.
Very neat. I see you have
a little furry friend under there.
-Yeah, I do. This is Wilma. -Oh, hi!
That's a great office mate.
-And what are you doing? -I manage the summer 2017 Lionfish Derby Series.
SAM: The Lionfish Derby is an annual event
to promote lionfish education and awareness. It's a one-day competition
where teams dive and snorkel to catch as many lionfish as possible.
Prizes are awarded for the biggest, smallest,
and most lionfish caught.
And you guys just had that yesterday, right?
Yeah, we had our last derby for the summer.
-I heard it was a ton of fun. -Yeah.
It was really fun. We had the festival--
with the derby.
SAM: And how many lionfish did you catch?
STAFF: We got 220 yesterday,
so over 2,000 for the whole summer.
SAM: The team here at REEF is doing such great work
to educate and inspire the community
to care about the conservation and protection of marine populations.
(light music)
I have lots of questions about the lionfish,
so let's sit down with Lad to learn more.
-You can have a seat. -Okay. Thanks.
-Thanks for having me. -It's good to have you here.
So, can you tell me a little bit about what you do here at REEF?
One of my main focuses is addressing nonnative species--
things that don't belong where they're being found now.
Okay, like the lionfish.
Exactly like lionfish.
SAM: Divers first spotted lionfish
off the cost of North Carolina in 2002.
Since then, the population has spread
to parts of the Atlantic and Caribbean,
with recent estimates of 200 Lionfish per acre!
LAD: They stalk their prey. Almost anything
that moves to attract their attention...
-Okay. -And that they can fit in their mouth,
sometimes larger than half their own body size.
Yeah, I was just gonna ask. How big is their mouth?
-It's big. -Wow.
And they feed with a suction--
-Just like grouper? -Very much like grouper.
-SAM: Okay. -LAD: They'll sneak up close to their prey,
make a rapid rush forward,
and open the mouth at the same time.
That creates a vacuum that sucks the prey right in.
They don't bite it in half.
They don't chew it up.
It just goes down whole.
SAM: And how big can lionfish get?
Well, in their native range, they get to about a foot.
But here,
we are seeing lionfish
much larger than that.
SAM: Wow.
LAD: Close to 20 inches.
Yes, they get much larger here than their native range,
probably because they don't have the same pressures.
They don't have predators here.
They don't have parasites here.
Where they don't belong, in this area,
it's kind of a free-for-all.
And why do they have very few predators?
They are very well-equipped with venomous spines,
and if you're a potential predator,
that is not something that you wanna make a meal out of.
Okay, and how many spines do they have on their bodies?
Well, they have 13 very long, very prominent,
-spines across the back. -SAM: Okay.
LAD: But they also have five spines
on the bottom-- two up forward, and three back by the tail.
SAM: Are all of them venomous?
LAD: Luckily, lionfish are not aggressive.
SAM: Okay. LAD: But they can be defensive,
so they tend to stand their ground.
They're quite bold because they don't have predators here.
So it's great to be able to swim up and look at a lionfish,
but you don't wanna reach out and try to grab it or pet it.
Mm-hmm.
And if you're around structure,
you want to give it a little bit of distance,
because that's typically where
you're gonna find lionfish.
SAM: Lionfish are one of the top predators
in many coral reef habitats in the Atlantic Ocean.
What do you do to keep their populations low?
LAD: Yeah, well, what we're finding is that
where people are not removing lionfish,
the populations are just skyrocketing,
and that's part of the problem.
SAM: The lionfish derby is a great example
of how REEF is educating the public about lionfish
and getting them involved.
So, as scuba divers, how should we interact with lionfish in the wild?
Yeah, so one of the great things about divers and snorkelers
is that they're able to find lionfish and remove them...
-Okay. -Either by hand-netting fish,
and we can help protect our native marine life
by removing the lionfish that don't belong here.
And we're allowed to do that?
It depends on where we are,
but here in the Florida Keys,
it's not only allowed, but it's encouraged.
SAM: Only divers with a permit can catch these unwelcome fish.
LAD: Probably, one of our only
saving graces...
is that lionfish are really good to eat.
-Okay. -I mean, they're a delicacy.
People clamor for lionfish.
SAM: Lionfish are venomous, but not poisonous to eat
once the spines are removed and the meat is prepared.
Many restaurants are adding this tasty delicacy to their menu
in efforts to spread awareness about this species.
LAD: The more we study about lionfish,
the more we learn, and the more effective
we can be in our removal efforts.
SAM: I had such a great time
learning lots about lionfish with Lad.
They're an impressive species
because they can eat anything that fits into their mouth.
They're also invasive because they're not native to the Atlantic Ocean.
This majestic predator has found itself far away from home,
creating major impacts on its new habitat
and the wildlife in it.
So we have to do our job, like Lad and his team,
to promote awareness
and control the lionfish population.
See you next time on "What Sam Sees."
Captioned by Captionmax