Meeting Abstract
Pterois volitans, the lionfish, is a scorpaenid native to the Indo-Pacific Ocean. In Caribbean reefs, it has become an invasive species with a depth range from 1 to 1,000 feet. P. volitans is a threat due to their immense numbers and prodigious consumption of prey at all depths of the Caribbean reefs. P. volitans in the Caribbean are shown to be opportunistic feeders, consuming almost all available prey in the surrounding environment. Past studies have investigated the impact of P. volitans’ dietary preferences in shallow reef ecosystems. The current study, however, explored the same impact in mesophotic (“twilight zone”) reef ecosystems in two localities. Twenty-seven specimens of P. volitans were sampled from mesophotic reefs (200-400 feet) near Curaçao and 21 from the mesophotic reefs near Bermuda. The entire contents of each specimens’ stomach were removed, DNA extracted and the DNA sequenced for each sample. From the DNA matches provided by GenBank, we identified 7 orders, 26 families, and 30 species of fish and crustaceans. The dietary analysis of P. volitans from shallow water differed from that of the species in mesophotic depths. In shallow reefs, Labridae was the most consumed family of fish (27%). In mesophotic reefs, the Serranidae (67%) was the most strongly represented fish family in the stomach content analysis. Paranthias furcifer made up 94% of serranid sequences, revealing a high consumption rate for this species by P. volitans. It is now suspected that P. furcifer populations face endangerment due to the high levels of P. volitans predation.
