{"id":463170,"date":"2025-12-21T23:32:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-21T23:32:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/463170\/"},"modified":"2025-12-21T23:32:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-21T23:32:16","slug":"divers-enlist-in-battle-against-harmful-creatures-taking-over-vast-ocean-area-beautiful-but-terrible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/463170\/","title":{"rendered":"Divers enlist in battle against harmful creatures taking over vast ocean area: &#8216;Beautiful but terrible&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Lionfish have taken over parts of the Gulf and Caribbean in the past few decades. One group in Texas is trying to put a dent in the species&#8217; population, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texasmonthly.com\/travel\/invasive-lionfish-gulf-spearfishing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Texas Monthly<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Lionfish, which are considered <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecooldown.com\/outdoors\/invasive-species\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">invasive<\/a>, come from the water around Asia and have somehow managed to make their way here. These fish eat everything they come across that fits in their mouths and are particularly destructive to coral ecosystems. These ecosystems are home to <a href=\"https:\/\/oceanservice.noaa.gov\/education\/tutorial_corals\/coral07_importance.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">25%<\/a> of our oceans&#8217; marine life and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecooldown.com\/outdoors\/declining-fish-populations-great-barrier-reef-australia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">provide billions of dollars<\/a> to local economies.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>As the Texas Monthly article&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texasmonthly.com\/travel\/invasive-lionfish-gulf-spearfishing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">author<\/a>, Josh Alvarez, put it, these fish are a &#8220;beautiful but terrible menace.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecooldown.com\/outdoors\/invasive-species\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"18\" title=\"What are invasive species? How a foreign nuisance can wreak havoc on a local ecosystem\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Invasive species<\/a> spread rapidly.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In fact, a female lionfish can produce as many as 50,000 eggs every few days (though not all of those mature). This allows them to consume natural resources more quickly. Native and local species often face food shortages or, in the case of the lionfish, are sometimes eaten by the outside species.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In this way, these fish throw the ecosystem out of balance. Their actions can cause significant <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecooldown.com\/outdoors\/flower-garden-banks-national-marine-sanctuary-oil-gas-threat-coral-reef\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">damage to coral reefs<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<td class=\"container-cell\" align=\"center\" style=\"padding:0;border-spacing:0;padding:10px;\">&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n\t                         &#13;<\/p>\n<tr style=\"padding:0;border-spacing:0;border: 1px solid #e1e1e1\">&#13;<\/p>\n<td class=\"section-inner\" style=\"padding:0;border-spacing:0;background:#fff;border-radius:6px;margin:0;padding:10px 20px 20px;\">&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t&#13;<br \/>\n                      &#13;<br \/>\n                      &#13;<br \/>\n                      <a href=\"\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/copy-of-pca_hydrabright_amz-sponsored-image_v2_1200x628.webp.jpeg\" width=\"560\" height=\"400\" style=\"display:block;width:100%;height:auto;\"\/><\/a>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\nPCA Skin&#8217;s <a target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#360499;text-decoration:underline\" href=\"https:\/\/go.linkby.com\/EOWNCXOR\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">new daily care line<\/a> extends the benefits of professional treatments to your at-home routine, with cleansers, serums, and moisturizers formulated to maintain skin health and address specific concerns. &#13;\n<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\nSkin is unique, which is why PCA Skin offers <a target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#360499;text-decoration:underline\" href=\"https:\/\/go.linkby.com\/EOWNCXOR\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">tailored solutions<\/a> for every skin type, tone, and condition. Designed to target concerns like acne, hyperpigmentation, and aging, their industry-leading treatments have delivered transformative in-office results for 35 years \u2014 and the <a target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#360499;text-decoration:underline\" href=\"https:\/\/go.linkby.com\/EOWNCXOR\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">unique opportunity<\/a> to get the same quality care in the comfort of your own home is one you won&#8217;t want to miss.&#13;\n<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n                      &#13;<br \/>\n                    &#13;\n\t\t\t\t\t  <\/td>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n                  <\/tr>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n                &#13;\n<\/td>\n<p>Unfortunately, they are nearly impossible to get rid of. The only viable, known method is spearfishing. As such, the Lionfish Invitational, a nonprofit organization, brings together researchers and citizen divers to hunt the lionfish.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Alvarez participated in one of these expeditions at the <a href=\"https:\/\/flowergarden.noaa.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary<\/a>. It&#8217;s a federally protected area of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecooldown.com\/outdoors\/panaon-island-protected-seascape-philippines\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">coral-covered<\/a> seamounts found roughly 100 miles off the coast of Texas.<\/p>\n<p>Expeditions like these typically cost scuba divers a pretty penny. But donations and grants help offset the costs enough to make the experience more affordable.<\/p>\n<p>Each group of divers goes down far enough into the sanctuary to explore the coral reefs and search for lionfish. Once they find the fish, the divers spear and remove them from the ocean.\u00a0<\/p>\n<td class=\"container-cell\" align=\"center\" style=\"padding:0;border-spacing:0;padding:10px;\">&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n\t                         &#13;<\/p>\n<tr style=\"padding:0;border-spacing:0;border: 1px solid #e1e1e1\">&#13;<\/p>\n<td class=\"section-inner\" style=\"padding:0;border-spacing:0;background:#fff;border-radius:6px;margin:0;padding:10px 20px 20px;\">&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t&#13;<br \/>\n                      &#13;<br \/>\n                      &#13;<br \/>\n                      <a href=\"https:\/\/go.linkby.com\/DSPOIMIE\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Untitled-design-72.jpg\" width=\"560\" height=\"400\" style=\"display:block;width:100%;height:auto;\"\/><\/a>&#13;<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#360499;text-decoration:underline\" href=\"https:\/\/go.linkby.com\/DSPOIMIE\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Nuun\u2019s<\/a> zero-sugar hydration tablets are a perfect, guilt-free way to enhance your water throughout the day. You\u2019ll get <b>five essential electrolytes<\/b> for everyday hydration \u2014 with <b>zero grams of sugar<\/b>.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Plus, Nuun tablets are <a target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#360499;text-decoration:underline\" href=\"https:\/\/go.linkby.com\/DSPOIMIE\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">certified vegan and gluten-free<\/a>, and they\u2019re the perfect size to keep in your car, purse, or anywhere you&#8217;ll want a healthy, restorative drink.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n                      &#13;<br \/>\n                    &#13;\n\t\t\t\t\t  <\/td>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n                  <\/tr>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n                &#13;\n<\/td>\n<p>Researchers often receive the fish after the expedition ends. They hope to use the fish to learn more about the species&#8217; migration patterns and other information that could help to suppress them. This particular expedition saw the removal of 92 lionfish, which put at least a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecooldown.com\/outdoors\/lionfish-cozumel-caribbean-festival\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">small dent<\/a> in the population.<\/p>\n<p>Protecting and prioritizing native marine life and their habitats is even more imperative to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecooldown.com\/outdoors\/croix-chippewa-tribe-sturgeon-repopulation-clam-lake\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">stewarding the land<\/a>, safeguarding food supplies, and conserving natural resources.<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-medium-font-size\" style=\"max-width:600px\">Get TCD&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecooldown.com\/newsletter\/?utm_source=rec22SJttFD7yD3zH\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">free newsletters<\/a> for easy tips to save more, waste less, and make smarter choices \u2014 and earn up to $5,000 toward clean upgrades in TCD&#8217;s exclusive <a href=\"https:\/\/links.thecooldown.com\/rewards-club\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Rewards Club<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"36\" height=\"24\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thecooldown.com\/wp-content\/themes\/tcd\/assets\/images\/divider-icon-earth.svg\" alt=\"Cool Divider\" loading=\"lazy\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Lionfish have taken over parts of the Gulf and Caribbean in the past few decades. One group in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":463171,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[990,20157,316,136829,2824,3341,9030,159,67,132,68,20748,837,11363],"class_list":{"0":"post-463170","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-food","9":"tag-garden","10":"tag-home","11":"tag-native-lawn-gem","12":"tag-outdoors","13":"tag-plastic","14":"tag-reddit-gem","15":"tag-science","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-unitedstates","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-waste-less","20":"tag-wildlife","21":"tag-yahoo-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115760172584474423","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=463170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/463170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/463171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=463170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=463170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=463170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}