Dr. Edward Ford is my roomie and new dive buddy - we both breathe about the same; he's about 18 years younger than I am. He's been to Bonaire five times before.
Becky Anderson
We dove two boat dives yesterday afternoon:
The Rock Pile & Something Special.
The fish are large, and friendly.
There are LOTS of Lionfish (bad) and lots of other life (good).
No Frogfish or Seahorses, but I'm looking.
Red Lionfish
As beautiful as this fish is, it is an invasive species,
with no natural predators, though attempts are underway
to convince Moray eels to eat them.
In 1995, when we were at the Great Barrier Reef,
we saw the damage done by the Crown of Thorns Starfish.
Dive masters spear Lionfish to remove them from the reef.
Big Lionfish are good eating, Neal was told.
Never been enough to see on a menu, but natives do eat them.
As they are extremely toxic (those spines are dangerous),
I wonder how the poison is extracted.
Special chefs, perhaps, as with Puffer Fish in Japan?
Neal replies:
They just cut the spines off and toss 'em.
We discussed this problem when I came home after seeing
more & more Lionfish at Cocoview & Utila Lodge.
Honduras is not as aggressively going after these bad boys.
Spearing Lionfish
As we spotted them, anyone who wanted photographs took them,
then the DM came in and speared it. It's a dangerous task;
as explained on the boat by our DM yesterday,
with the tiny sling guns they use, a particularly large
Lionfish has been known to swim up the spear
and stick the gunner in the chest, neck or face!
(Like wild pigs, they are tough to kill.)
They have new slings on order with some sort of guard
so they can no longer do that.
I was told the sting won't kill you,
but it's a darned uncomfortable experience.
[For more information on the Lionfish Invasion of the Bahamas, read HERE]
French Angel Fish
Smooth Trunk Fish
Box Fish
Banded Butterfly Fish
Barracuda
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