The Lionfish Invasion! Lionfish are popular saltwater aquarium  fish all over the world, especially in the United States. Nowadays, they also live in Atlantic waters off the East Coast of the United States. These lionfish are what scientists call an invasive  species  or an "alien invader."  Local divers off the coast of North Carolina were not expecting to see what they found one day in August 2002--the beautiful lionfish, common to the warm waters of the western Pacific, but unknown of the Carolina coast. They provided the first solid evidence that lionfish were in the Atlantic.  A year later, scientists documented 19 lionfish sightings at eight locations along the North Carolina continental shelf. Then, lionfish were observed off the coasts of Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, and even as far north as Long Island, New York! Between 2000 and 2003, lionfish sightings were reported at 16 different shipwrecks and natural hard bottom locations. During a summer 2004 research expedition, NOAA(The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) scientists collected 155 lionfish at 19 different locations off the North Carolina coast alone. The jump in numbers and distributions over such a short time strongly indicates that the lionfish is reproducing in the Atlantic Ocean. If this is true, it's the first time that a western Pacific fish has populated the U.S. Atlantic coast. These lionfish were likely released on purpose when people no longer wanted them! The swift and warm Gulf Stream, which transported the floating lionfish eggs from Florida northward, helped the lionfish's Atlantic journey. In Florida waters and along the continental shelf near the Gulf Stream the temperatures are very similar to the lionfish's native waters.  However, from north Florida upward, the waters along the coastline are too cold in the winter for lionfish to survive. Scientists expect them to survive the winter only at water depths greater than 120ft because this is where the Gulf Stream has influence all year long. Very importantly, the types of predators  and competitors present in the Atlantic are very different from the native range of the lionfish. Generally, the lionfish have not been found to endanger marine ecosystems because they were not likely to survive long. Scientists call the lionfish an "alien invader" because the lionfish   _  .
have damaged the native species are able to live in a new environment came from one place and spread to another will attack other species with their poisonous teeth