Date of Award

2015

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

Submission Date

October 2026

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Moore, Jon

Abstract

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.

Comments

Includes bibliography.

Extent

65 p.

Identifier

FA00003657

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