I found this today in my newest issue of Scuba Diving magazine:
When divers surveying fish in the Florida Keys for the Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) reported seeing a pair of orbicular batfish, eyebrows definately raised. "These fish are from the Indo-Pacific," says Lad Akins, REEF's executive director, "so the possibility existed that they'd cause ecological problems by out-competing native fish for food or by carrying diseases they're vulnerable to." Divers soon descended on the reef, captured the pair and sent them to the Florida Aquarium in Tampa. Potention ecological disaster averted, right? Wrong.
These waters off southeastern Florida have become a hotbed of non-native fish. Throughout the other areas REEF surveys- the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean, the coasts of North America, Hawaii-the number of non-native reported ocer the last few years ranges from none to one. Here, though, more than 16 different species have been spotted.
"The correlation between the types of fish imported for the aquarium trade and the types being seen here is vey strong," says Brice Semmens, a doctoral candidate at the University of Washington and the lead author of a study on the origins of these fish. "A fish grows too big for its tank or people can't take careof it anymore. Rather than kill it, they set it free."
REEF is now distributing brochures to local aquarium stores and dive shops explaining the dangers of such releases. "Fortunately, a lot of volunteer divers working with REEF are acting as eyes for scientists who can't be out there themselves," adds Semmens. "Without them, we wouldn't have any idea what was happening."
When divers surveying fish in the Florida Keys for the Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) reported seeing a pair of orbicular batfish, eyebrows definately raised. "These fish are from the Indo-Pacific," says Lad Akins, REEF's executive director, "so the possibility existed that they'd cause ecological problems by out-competing native fish for food or by carrying diseases they're vulnerable to." Divers soon descended on the reef, captured the pair and sent them to the Florida Aquarium in Tampa. Potention ecological disaster averted, right? Wrong.
These waters off southeastern Florida have become a hotbed of non-native fish. Throughout the other areas REEF surveys- the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean, the coasts of North America, Hawaii-the number of non-native reported ocer the last few years ranges from none to one. Here, though, more than 16 different species have been spotted.
"The correlation between the types of fish imported for the aquarium trade and the types being seen here is vey strong," says Brice Semmens, a doctoral candidate at the University of Washington and the lead author of a study on the origins of these fish. "A fish grows too big for its tank or people can't take careof it anymore. Rather than kill it, they set it free."
REEF is now distributing brochures to local aquarium stores and dive shops explaining the dangers of such releases. "Fortunately, a lot of volunteer divers working with REEF are acting as eyes for scientists who can't be out there themselves," adds Semmens. "Without them, we wouldn't have any idea what was happening."
