Michael Hancock, a veteran dive master of Amigos del Mar in San Pedro Ambergris Caye, is the first to turn in a specimen of the exceptionally beautiful but threatening, predatory lionfish, caught last Thursday at a depth of 60 feet below the sea’s surface on the leeward side of the Turneffe Atolls, south of San Pedro and offshore the Belize District.
Unfortunately, the fish, which Hol Chan Marine Reserve manager, Miguel Alamilla, says was “mishandled,” died on Friday night at the reserve.
Hancock told Amandala that on Thursday morning he and his group were 5 minutes into their dive when he sighted the fish floating upside down near a ledge. Fifty minutes later, he checked back and found the fish still idling. He and his group tried to use a t-shirt to capture the fish – about seven inches long – but when the fish tried to escape, Hancock responded impulsively and grabbed it with his hand. The ferocious fish, infamous for its venomous sting, unleashed its attack on him, causing him instant pain.
We caught up with Hancock this evening, after a routine day out on the seas, and he told us that despite the painful attack by the fish, it feels good to be the first to have landed a specimen of the fish in Belize. Fortunately for him, the pain has since subsided.
The first reported sighting of the lionfish in Belize was on December 11, 2008, when a dive instructor of Sundancer said he had spotted one near the same Turneffe Atolls.
Hancock told us that others had reported seeing more of the fish around Turneffe, though the low frequency of sightings suggests that the fish are not yet very plentiful there.
The second reported sighting happened in January by another dive master, near Glovers Reef Atoll.
Last month, environmentalist Jose “Pepe” Garcia announced, via the Amandala, that a $50 reward would be offered to anyone who can bring in a lionfish, dead or alive (and whole). Hancock told us that he expects to receive his 50 bucks sometime this week.
Garcia explained that while it is impossible to completely eradicate the lionfish, it is important for Belize to control it now, by hunting them down.
Hancock told us that in all his 11 years working as a dive master with Amigos del Mar, he had never spotted the lionfish, and when tourists used to ask him about the fish, his reply, before the recent sightings, was that the fish does not exist in Belize. On Thursday, Hancock found the proof that he had been dead wrong.
According to Alamilla, biologist at Hol Chan Marine Reserve, they have positively identified the fish, and they plan to send it over to the Fisheries Department, which administers the marine reserve, for a formal identification to confirm the genus and species names.
Alamilla says that the lionfish appeared stressed and weak, and a part of its flesh around the spines was missing when they got the specimen.
Some of that stress was due to the transportation of the fish to the surface, which caused the lungs to swell. The air was let out with a small puncture on the lungs.
The Fisheries had cautioned in early February that those trying to catch the lionfish should be very careful, because it is poisonous. Netting and spear fishing are techniques recommended for capturing specimens.
The fish is said to have venom in its dorsal spines, and can unleash a very painful bite, causing humans to experience redness, swelling, bleeding, nausea, paralysis and even seizures, according to the Fisheries Department.
The invasive fish, originally of the Indo-Pacific region, is of particular concern because it is a voracious feeder and poses a threat to local fish populations. It devours other reef fish such as snappers and groupers, and reproduces rapidly. It has been observed to slash recruitment of these fishes by as much as 79% in only 5 weeks, the Fisheries Department has informed.