WEBVTT

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In the waters of the western Atlantic
and Caribbean a voracious alien predator

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has taken hold. We have never before seen
a marine invasion of this magnitude or scale.

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Lionfish are indigenous to the
Indo-Pacific. They've evolved over many

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thousands of years in a complicated
system where everything had had time to work

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out its place and its controlling
mechanisms. Not so in the Atlantic where

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this invasive species is a major threat
to biodiversity and the health of

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already stressed coral reef ecosystems.
The biggest concern we have is lion fish

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predation on other marine life. They are
a voracious gluttonous feeder they're an

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ambush predator and they're very
uniquely camouflaged so they can sneak

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up very close to their prey and our prey
here in this range have not evolved with

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lionfish and don't see them as a
predator. One of the key findings of the

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research that we've been doing here in
the Bahamas is that lionfish have likely

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reduced fish populations on many of
these reefs by up to ninety percent in

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the last four years. It's a free-for-all
for lionfish right now no predators, lots

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of food - it's a kid in a candy store.

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The million-dollar question is what are we going to do about this?