State record lionfish speared off of Destin Coast

State record lionfish speared off of Destin Coast

A Florida state record lionfish was recently speared off the coast of Destin. According to a report in Florida Sea Grant, Donald C. Vautrinot (pictured), of Niceville, FL, was spearfishing for red snapper on Oct. 18 when he went back down for a few lionfish.
“I saw a monster lionfish and immediately knew I wanted to measure it,” Vautrinot said. “I got really excited because I knew the Gulf record was around 18 inches, but I didn’t know exactly and we didn’t have a cell signal to check it out there.’’
Okaloosa County Coastal Resource Manager Alex Fogg confirmed, at 18.19 inches, the new Florida record for longest lionfish caught in the Gulf of Mexico. Joshua Falkner held the former Gulf record of 18.07 inches, caught off Pensacola. The overall state record of 18.78 inches was caught by Capt. Jimmy Nelson in 2015 in the Atlantic Ocean off Islamorada.
In September, 4,640 lionfish were caught during the Emerald Coast Open Pre-tournament in Destin. Lionfish are an invasive species that have a negative impact on native fish and wildlife. Native to coral reefs in the tropical waters. The species has few predators outside of their home range and feed on prey normally consumed by snapper, grouper and other commercially important native species. Their presence negatively affects the well-being of valuable commercial and recreational fisheries and puts stress on coral reefs, which are already struggling from the effects of climate change, pollution, disease, overfishing and sedimentation.