Venomous lionfish spreading throughout Keys
Venomous lionfish spreading throughout Keys
Key Largo, Florida - The lionfish, a beautiful but venomous invasive species, has slowly begun spreading throughout the Florida Keys, wreaking havoc to the marine environment.
The Miami Herald reports that more than 80 of the intruders have been documented over the last year. They were found from Key Largo to the Dry Tortugas, and so far, all have been juveniles.
The lionfish has no known predators and is a voracious eater. They are believed to have come from aquariums and were spotted off the coast in Miami more than two decades ago.
The species has since spread throughout the Caribbean and the eastern seaboardhttp://images.intellitxt.com/ast/adTypes/2_bing.gif.
Scientists worry the fish will devastate area reefs off the Florida Keys.
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Do your civic duty: Eat this Fish
Do your civic duty: Eat this fish!
Humans armed with knives and forks enlisted to control lionfish invasion
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NOAA The lionfish consumes 56 different species of fish and many invertebrate species.
The federal government has thrown its weight behind plans to field a novel weapon – the American appetite – in a bid to halt the spread of the voracious and invasive lionfish.
Like Tribbles proliferating in the holds of the Starship Enterprise, lionfish have spread throughout the Caribbean and along the Atlantic Coast in recent years, most recently invading critical reef habitat off the Florida Keys.
The non-native fish, with their "manes" of venom-tipped spines, have no natural predators in these waters. They eat indiscriminately — consuming some 56 species of fish and many invertebrate species — and reproduce rapidly.
This has prompted scientists to turn to an equally ravenous species to control the beautiful pest.
"The only way to really help the reefs is to actually get people interested in fishing for lionfish," says Renata Lana, a spokeswoman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which just launched an "Eat Lionfish" campaign. "In fact they are quite delicious fish."
Lionfish, also called turkey, scorpion or fire fish, are not considered food by residents of the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific, their native habitat. They were kept as exotic pets in the United States for years, and researchers say it was probably someone in the aquarium trade who first freed lionfish into the Atlantic near Florida, where they were first spotted in the mid-1980s.
Since then, there has been a population explosion. A single female produces about 2 million eggs a year, and hatchlings become sexually mature in about one year, said James Morris, ecologist at NOAA’s Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research National Ocean Service in Beaufort, N.C.
"Lionfish have a life history that has allowed them to be a very aggressive invader," he said. "When they invade, they eat the abundant prey first, and then start dieting on other species."
Lionfish now thrive from North Carolina to the Bahamas, in shallow waters and coral reefs, as well as deep water environments. They can live warm or cold water, and have been seen as far north as Massachusetts. In some coral reefs they outnumber native commercial species.
Conservationists say the lionfish threaten recovery of overfished species like grouper and snapper by eating them, consuming their prey and competing for space in the reefs. They also feed on species like parrotfish, which normally control the growth of algae on a reef.
Morris says it would be virtually impossible to eradicate lionfish in the Atlantic. But he says there is evidence that targeting lionfish in specific areas such as coral reefs can make a big difference.
This is where the "Eat Lionfish" campaign comes in, lending the considerable weight of NOAA, a government agency, to grassroots efforts in the same vein.
Tasty, but watch the spines
Promoters say lionfish are tasty, with light, white and flakey meat. But they admit to challenges to starting a trend toward lionfish as a dish — including persuading fishermen and diners that the spiky creature is safe to catch and eat.
"Many people are afraid to eat the fish because they are venomous, but it’s only in the spines, not in the meat," says Lad Akins, director of operations for REEF, a marine conservation nonprofit. "With just normal precautions, you can fillet it, and get a very nice piece of fish.”
Wayne Mershon, owner of fish supplier Kenyon Seafood in Murrells Inlet, S.C., says he has a customer for lionfish — a chef at a seaside hotel will take as much as he can provide. He serves it as a delicacy. But only a few fishermen will bring it in -- even when they catch it accidentally while fishing for grouper and snapper – because they don’t want to risk handling it.
“I think the main concern with most of the fishermen is that once you’ve caught it, getting it back in the water without getting stuck by it,” said Mershon.
The lionfish sting normally is not deadly to humans, but it is extremely painful and makes some people very sick.
In its battle to win over hearts and stomachs, REEF has been sponsoring “ lionfish derbies.”
“You can engage and educated the public about the (lionfish) issue -- of course you’re removing all those lionfish -- but you also cook the fish up and give people the opportunity to taste lion fish and see how good they are,” said Akins.
In REEF’s first derby, held in May 2009 in the Bahamas, enthusiastic competitors brought in 1,408 lionfish. Starting next month, it has derbies scheduled for Key Largo, Marathon and Key West, Fla., where the lionfish population is exploding.
NOAA is working on a series of lionfish events at restaurants across the United States in the coming year, aimed at creating a chain of demand —from fisherman, to wholesaler, to the dinner table.
Meantime, REEF is producing a lionfish cookbook, with recipes from around the Caribbean, and distributing environmental information and instructions on how to avoid, and treat, wounds from the fish’s venomous spine.
Akins favorite lionfish dish? “Flavorwise and in terms of simplicity, it's lionfish seviche,” he said. “It’s really good with tortilla chips.”
That tastiness may turn out to be the lionfish’s Achilles’ heel.
“If it didn’t taste good we would be in a world of trouble,” he says.
from invasive fish to savory dish
Now people are eating it. Those poison spines scare me,just like the puffers.
Seafood watch: Invasive species on the menu at James Beard House event with Food & Water Watch
Published: Wednesday, July 27, 2011, 5:00 AM
http://media.nj.com/hg_impact/photo/9834808-large.jpgJon Simon/Food & Water WatchLionfish, a well-known aquarium specimen that is now proliferating in the Atlantic, is safe to eat once its poisonous spines have been removed. Here, Kerry Heffernan, an award-winning New York chef, fillets it for cooking during a recent James Beard House demonstration with Food & Water Watch. Wild tilapia, another invasive species, is at his right and also on the tasting menu.
It's a challenge like something right out of "Top Chef": Take a fish best known as a flashy aquarium dweller and turn it into a dish that restaurant patrons would be eager to sample.
Of course, there’s a twist or two in overcoming the unappetizing name of lionfish and the fact that the saltwater specimen gets its name from a row of venom-releasing dorsal spines that resemble a lion’s mane.
Chef Kerry Heffernan is nevertheless up to the task. The fish arrives whole but stripped of its nearly 20 toxic barbs. Heffernan knifes it up, dredges the plump, white fillets in Wondra flour (it has less gluten and produces a crispier coating) and sears them in grapeseed oil. The fish is then plated with wilted pea shoots, brown butter sauce and garlic scapes (the edible sprouts of immature garlic) and served to a room of judges: other chefs, media types, and officials from Food & Water Watch, an international nonprofit organization that works to improve the safety and quality of food and water.
The organization partnered with the James Beard Foundation in New York to host the tasting and mark the release of its 2011 Smart Seafood Guide, which recommends eating not only lionfish, but Asian carp, U.S. wild-caught tilapia and European green crab. All are among invasive species threatening U.S. waterways, and all are on a tasting menu that Heffernan, executive chef of the Manhattan restaurant South Gate, developed earlier this month as part of a Food & Water Watch program.
The idea is to encourage other chefs to turn these ocean pests into appetizing meals. The hope is that skilled preparation will create population-reducing demand and thereby help protect native fish and other ocean life being devoured by the invaders.
http://media.nj.com/hg_impact/photo/9834863-large.jpgJon SimonLionfish is pan fried and served with wilted pea shoots and a brown butter sauce in this dish by Kerry Heffernan, executive chef of the Manhattan restaurant South Gate.
"The only way we are going to develop a market for these fish is to give them some sex appeal," says Wenonah Hauter, Food & Water Watch executive director. "We want to create a buzz. We want to create a market."
Now swimming far from their home waters, there's a different story for how each of these creatures arrived here. The European green crab likely hitchiked around the nation in ship ballasts and fishing nets. It is speculated that the rapidly reproducing lionfish may have been released into the Atlantic from aquariums by disenchanted hobbyists or during hurricanes. Native to the Indo-Pacific region and the Red Sea, lionfish can live up to 15 years in the wild and are capable of reproducing almost monthly, with the females releasing thousands of eggs per cycle. They are proliferating from the East Coast to the Caribbean, frequently dining at ocean reefs and threatening a delicate ecosystem.
Wild tilapia, native to Africa and Southeast Asia, might have escaped from farms or other closed environments where they have been used to control mosquitoes and algae. Similarly, Asian carp were brought to the Southern U.S. to eat algae. They have spread along tributaries of the Mississippi River. Last year, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn signed an agreement with China to export as many 30 million pounds of the fish back to Asia to reduce their numbers in the Illinois River. Officials in the region are using electronic barriers and other measures to prevent the fish from establishing in the Great Lakes region.
Unchecked, the aquatic invaders are able to reproduce rapidly with little competition. But in Heffernan’s hands, they are pleasant and easy prey. European green crabs, too small and labor intensive for meat-plucking, are roasted and then stewed in chicken stock with tomatoes, chilis and white wine.
To work around the maddeningly complex bone structure of the Asian carp, Heffernan cuts the flesh into strips and marinates them in lime juice, oil and Thai chilis for a spicy ceviche.
http://media.nj.com/hg_impact/photo/9834877-large.jpgJon SimonAsian carp is thinly sliced and transformed into a spicy ceviche during a tasting of edible invasive species as prepared by Chef Kerry Heffernan.
The wild-caught blue tilapia, firm-textured, meaty and moist with a thick, fatty skin, is the most interesting to work with, Heffernan says. He grills it and tops it with a relish of cherry tomatoes, lovage, micro basil and sautéed cucumber. The assembly is enhanced by a yellow tomato buerre fondue and verjus.
"The more that they’re played with, the more we’re going to learn," Heffernan says. "We need to rename them and we need to talk about their flavors."
A renaming campaign for Chilean sea bass — formerly Patagonian toothfish — worked too well. What was once considered a "trash" catch is now being over fished. It’s pretty much the same story for orange roughy, previously dubbed slimehead fish for the contents of its distinctive mucous canals.
Because of overfishing, both Chilean sea bass and orange roughy are on the Food & Water Watch Dirty Dozen list of seafoods to avoid. The 2011 Smart Seafood Guide suggests having any of the three invasive fish instead.
But it’s not like lionfish, Asian carp or U.S. wild-caught tilapia are readily available at your local fish market. Heffernan says they will be easier to find if chefs put them on menus and they get more exposure. "If people eat them, the fishermen will figure out a way to catch them," he says. Increased awareness also can encourage consumers to cook the fish at home and ask markets to stock them, Hauter says.
http://media.nj.com/hg_impact/photo/9834895-large.jpgJon SimonAsian carp, European green crabs, wild blue tilapia and spineless lionfish await preparation during a recent Food & Water Watch program that encouraged dining on the invasive species.
Many of those at the Beard House tasting favor the lionfish, a firm, light-textured, flaky white fish that Heffernan compares to monkfish or John Dory. While American home cooks would likely be intimidated by the idea of cooking a fish with a non-fatal but nevertheless poisonous sting, Heffernan says the venom is neutralized by heat, and the fish is safe to eat once its spines have been removed.
At least one American restaurant, Miya’s Sushi in New Haven, Conn., already has lionfish on the menu. In Nine-Spice Lion, thinly sliced lionfish is served raw with crushed Szechuan peppers, roasted seaweed flakes, toasted sesame seeds and fresh chives in a citrus-sake soy sauce. Owner and chef Bun Lai is an environmentalist and social activist who created a concept menu of 11 dishes incorporating invasive species found in local waterways as well as invasive plants such as kudzu and Japanese knotweed.
