Diet of invasive lionfish (Pterois volitans and P. miles) in Bermuda Marine Ecology Progress Series

As a generalist and opportunistic predator, lionfish (Pterois volitans and P. miles) consume large quantities of juvenile reef fish and invertebrates, as well as the adults of small-bodied species. To better understand the impacts of these fishes upon invaded coral reef ecosystems, we describe the feeding habits of invasive lionfish in Bermuda based on stomach contents analysis, and the influence that environmental factors have on their diet via spatial and temporal changes in prey availability. Relative to other regions throughout the northwestern Atlantic, lionfish in Bermuda consume a greater proportion of crustaceans, and their diet appears to rely upon the relative abundance of available prey species. A poorly -known crustacean, the red night shrimp Cinetorhynchus rigens, is the species of greatest importance to the diet of Bermuda lionfish. Currently, herbivorous fishes do not make a major contribution to their diet, although the lionfish frequently target both ecologically (e.g. bluehead wrasse Thalassoma bifasciatum) and economically important species (e.g. Atlantic creolefish Paranthias furcifer).