136 
Fishery Bulletin 117(3) 
Table 4 
Estimates of von Bertalanffy growth curve parameters, with sexes pooled, for invasive red lionfish (Pterois volitans ) collected from 
2012 through 2015 in 3 ecological regions (ecoregions) in the northern Gulf of Mexico: southeast (Florida Keys north to Anclote 
Keys, Florida), northeast (Anclote Keys north to Mobile Bay, Alabama), and central (west of Mobile Bay to Galveston Bay, Texas). 
The parameters are growth rate (K), asymptotic length (L M , given in millimeters in total length [TL]), and theoretical age when 
the length is zero (t 0 ). Because of truncated data sets (i.e., a lack of red lionfish <100 mm TL), a sum of squares reduction test 
was used to compare model parameters between all ecoregions and sexes. All comparisons were significantly different (P<0.01). 
For comparison, parameters pooled by sex are included for specimens from North Carolina (Barbour et al., 2011), Little Cayman 
(Edwards et ah, 2014), Florida Keys (Swenarton et ah, 2016), northeast (NE) Florida (Johnson and Swenarton et ah, 2016), and 
Yucatan, Mexico (Rodriguez-Cortes et ah, 2015). 
Northern Gulf of Mexico 
- North Little Florida NE Yucatan, 
Parameter 
Southeast 
Northeast 
Central 
Pooled 
Carolina 
Cayman 
Keys 
Florida 
Mexico 
423.0 
393.0 
389.0 
400.2 
425.2 
349.0 
411.0 
448.0 
420.0 
K 
0.569 
0.544 
0.539 
0.560 
0.470 
0.420 
0.700 
0.470 
0.880 
^0 
-0.155 
-0.079 
-0.341 
-0.210 
-0.500 
-1.010 
0.000 
0.000 
-0.107 
energy shunted to reproduction than to growth; therefore, 
growth in female red lionfish is reduced upon maturation. 
This trade-off of reduced growth in females as the energy 
is redirected to reproduction has been described in numer¬ 
ous fish species (Reznick, 1983; Roff, 1983; Parker, 1992). 
Another potential reason that males grow larger than 
females is that males need to increase their chances of suc¬ 
cess in male rivalries and physical combat and, therefore, 
their opportunities for mating (Shine, 1989). Evidence of 
combat between large red lionfish (>350 mm TL, presum¬ 
ably males) has been observed in the northern GOM in the 
form of abrasions across the body. Recently, agonistic behav¬ 
ior between 2 large lionfish (Pterois spp.) has been observed 
and documented in Honduras (Fogg and Faletti, 2018). 
Growth rates and other life history traits vary by region 
in other marine fish species (Choat and Axe, 1996; Rutten- 
berg et al., 2005). The K value for red lionfish in the north¬ 
ern GOM is greater than that reported for fish from Little 
Cayman (Edwards et al., 2014), North Carolina (Barbour 
et al., 2011), and northeast Florida (Johnson and Swenar¬ 
ton, 2016), although K values reported for fish from the 
Florida Keys (Swenarton et al., 2015) and Yucatan, Mexico 
(Rodriguez-Cortes et al., 2015), were much greater than 
those in all other studies (Table 4). The higher K value 
observed in the northern GOM could explain why densi¬ 
ties of red lionfish are higher there than anywhere else in 
the geographic range that they have invaded (Dahl and 
Patterson, 2014). The pattern for age and growth of red 
lionfish in the northern GOM appears to be most similar 
to that of lionfish from the Atlantic Ocean off northeast 
Florida and North Carolina (Table 4). Similarities and 
differences in age and growth among studies could, in 
part, be driven by environmental thermal regimes (Lyons 
et al., 2017; Barker et al., 2018) in addition to other bio¬ 
logical and ecological factors (South et al., 2017). However, 
age and growth will need to be reevaluated in the future 
because our study examined samples collected early in the 
invasion of the northern GOM region. 
Age and growth data are important to assess poten¬ 
tial changes to the population structure of red lionfish 
that result from implementation of management plans, 
disease events, and environmental incidents such as an 
algal bloom. For example, Chagaris et al. (2017) modeled 
how potential strategies for management of lionfish may 
affect several recreationally and commercially important 
native fish species on the West Florida Shelf. The age and 
growth relationships of lionfish used in their model were 
based on fish from outside of the region of the West Flor¬ 
ida Shelf and, therefore, may not have correctly reflected 
population dynamics. Moreover, other management plans 
from agencies around the invaded region specifically men¬ 
tion the need for regional age and growth data (Morris 5 ; 
ANSTF 6 ; Johnston et al., 2015), and these plans noted the 
need for ongoing research. Accurate and region-specific 
weight-length, age, and growth data are vital for develop¬ 
ing age-structured population models that can be used to 
evaluate potential effects of targeted removals on the red 
lionfish population (Barbour et al., 2011) and the poten¬ 
tial population-level effects of large-scale disease for red 
lionfish and devil firefish (Harris et al. 7 ). These data can 
also be applied to behavioral studies for which only size 
information is available (e.g., Garcia-Rivas et al., 2018). 
Graham and Fanning (2017) reviewed management 
plans for invasive lionfish species in the Caribbean Sea, but 
research updates are needed so that future management 
5 Morris, J. A., Jr. (ed.). 2012. Invasive lionfish: a guide to control 
and management. Gulf Caribb. Fish. Inst., Spec. Publ. Ser. 1, 
113 p. [Available from website.] 
6 ANSTF (Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force). 2014. National 
invasive lionfish prevention and management plan, 48 p. Pre¬ 
pared by the Invasive Lionfish Control Ad-hoc Committee of the 
ANSTF. [Available from website.] 
' Harris, H. E., A. Q. Fogg, R. P. E. Yanong, S. Frasca Jr., T. Cody, 
T. B. Waltzek, and W. F. Patterson III. 2018. First report of an 
emerging ulcerative skin disease in invasive lionfish. Univ. Fla., 
Inst. Food Agric. Sci., Ext. Data Inf. Source (EDIS) FA209, 7 p. 
[Available from website.] 
