Uploaded May 2023 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
When an invasive species enters into an ecosystem they're not native to, it can have devastating impacts on the species that live there. Lionfish like the one in this video are invasive to the Western Atlantic, and because they eat whatever fits in their mouth, have no predators in the Atlantic, and breed year-round, their populations have exploded while drastically reducing the numbers of fishes they prey on. Per Oceana.org, populations of prey fish in the Bahamas decreased between 65% and 95% after the lionfish invaded their reefs.
When an invasive species enters into an ecosystem they're not native to, it can have devastating impacts on the species that live there. Lionfish like the one in this video are invasive to the Western Atlantic, and because they eat whatever fits in their mouth, have no predators in the Atlantic, and breed year-round, their populations have exploded while drastically reducing the numbers of fishes they prey on. Per Oceana.org, populations of prey fish in the Bahamas decreased between 65% and 95% after the lionfish invaded their reefs.
