Thomas, Sara

Invasive lionfish (Pterois volitans/miles) have rapidly spread throughout the
Atlantic and Caribbean waters in the past 30 years, representing a threat to fish
communities through predation. Diet composition of lionfish was examined by collecting
stomach contents from fishes taken during 2014 summer roundup events in St. Lucie and
Martin County, Florida. Differences in composition of stomachs as well as diversity of
prey items were observed between both events. The most numerous prey items were
teleost fishes (67-91%) and crustaceans (9-32.7%). Fish from six varying families were
identified thus far. Black sea bass (Centropristis striata), a managed fishery, was noted
frequently in the St. Lucie stomachs. In addition to diet composition, gastric evacuation
rate (GER) was tested through live feeding trials with Mojarra sp. One trial of 14 hours
did not encompass total digestion of 8.5 mL of prey, suggesting that lionfishes’ GER is
potentially much longer than previously thought and dependent on stomach volume.