What Stops A Lionfish?
Diving around a coral reef, Hixon shines a light under every ledge, looking for lionfish and the fish they like to eat. After a few minutes, he waves his light frantically under an overhang. A lionfish the size of a football fans the water with its huge, quilled fins. These days, the only thing unusual about spotting a lionfish in the Bahamas is seeing just one of them. Back on the boat, Hixon is upbeat. Last year his team pulled more than a dozen lionfish off this reef. “And this year, there’s just one,” he says. “What that tells us is that our removals took, and lasted a whole year.” But Hixon says divers can only catch so many. So he’s also studying native lionfish in the Pacific Ocean to understand what keeps their populations in check. Parasites could be one limiting factor. Zoologist Paul Sikkel peers through a microscope at the gills of one of the lionfish Hixon’s team has just caught. “Wow! Just so clean,” Sikkel exclaims. “There’s nothing in there. Have a look. A local fish, y
