Green Turtle Cay Lionfish Derby June 15 – 16 2012

I picked up this event from Twitter courtesy of  @lionfishderby.

4th Annual Green Turtle Cay (Abaco) Lionfish Derby June 15-16, 2012- Cash prizes

On our last few trips down to Elbow cay we have had our own Lionfish derby.  We seem to find more lionfish on the inside of the Sea of Abaco.  We would be cruising around and want to get a closer look at a rock formation or something  and every time we get on a small set of rocks on the inside of the Sea of Abaco I would find some Lionfish.  typically I would get the spear and do some shooting.  One this occasion we put JP on small rock down off Tilloo that had five or so LionFish.  He swam down about five feet and made a great shot lying on the bottom and shooting up under a rock.   I was very impressed.

Below is a pic of some of our goodies we retrieved from the reefs north of Elbow Cay

Strangely enough I don’t see any lionfish out on the big reef or any of the coral heads just inside.

I picked up some great pointers from @lionfishderby twitter feed and website www.lionfishderby.com

• Lion Fish Facts:Voracious predators being shown to eat native fish and crustaceans in large quantities. (Juvenile Nassau grouper have been found in lionfish stomachs in the Bahamas)
• Not known to have any native predators.
• Equipped with venomous dorsal, ventral and anal spines, which deter predators and can cause painful wounds in humans.
• Capable of reproducing year-round with unique reproduction mechanisms not commonly found in native fishes.
• Relatively resistant to parasites, giving them another advantage over native species.
• Fast in their growth, able to outgrow native species with whom they compete for food and space.