(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
