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LIONFISH Big lionfish Advertise | AdChoices found at disturbing Big lionfish found at disturbing 57 Year Old depths Woman Looks 27 depths Mom Published a Simple Facelift Trick That SUPERMAN Megan Gannon, LiveScience Angered Doctors. Superman's Read More... origins possibly born from star 21 hours ago explosion The End of Obama? This looming scandal VOLCANOES could ruin the 44th Why is this President & disrupt the volcano entire... screaming? Read More… Seismologists figure it out

ICEBERGS Underwater sounds of shattering icebergs are,

Oregon State University Lionfish gather near the doorway of this sunken ship, the Bill Boyd, in this image taken by researchers inside the submersible Antipodes.

The relentless scourge of lionfish has crept to unexpected depths: Off the coast of Florida, researchers say they found the venomous invader thriving around a sunken ship at 300 feet (91 meters) below the water's surface.

"We expected some populations of lionfish at that depth, but their numbers and size were a surprise," researcher Stephanie Green, of Oregon State University, said in a statement. Advertise Last month, Green and colleagues investigated the seafloor near Fort Lauderdale, Fla., in a deep-diving Antipodes sub. At 300 feet (91 m) deep, the team witnessed a large number of the spiny fish near the intentionally sunken Bill Boyd cargo ship, an artificial reef created in 1986. [See Photos of Lionfish & Other Freaky Fish]

While lionfish are typically between 12 and 15 inches (30 to 38 centimeters) long, the Oregon State researchers say they saw unusually large specimens as big as 16 inches (40 cm) long.

"This was kind of an 'Ah hah!' moment," Green said. "It was

immediately clear that this is a new frontier in the lionfish crisis, and Advertise that something is going to have to be done about it. Seeing it up- close really brought home the nature of the problem."

Native to tropical Indo-Pacific waters, lionfish were introduced to www.nbcnews.com/science/big-lionfish-found-disturbing-depths-6C10631330 1/3 7/15/13 Big lionfish found at disturbing depths - NBC News.com Ads by Google the Atlantic by humans in the 1990s, likely through the exotic pet trade. Now found in reefs from North Carolina to South America, the rapidly reproducing invasive fish have voracious appetites, Unclaimed $20,500? gobbling up native fish and competing with other species for food Newsmax.com resources. Certain Seniors Scoop Up Unclaimed $20,500 Checks (See If You Qualify)

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Oregon State University A popular aquarium fish and invasive predator, lionfish have a fan of soft, waving fins and venomous spines.

Worse, lionfish have no natural enemies in Atlantic waters, except spear gun-toting humans. Another study, detailed online July 11 in the journal PLOS ONE, found that not even sharks can curb red lionfish populations in Caribbean reefs.

Advertise Researchers are trying to figure out what is keeping lionfish in check Ads by Google in the Pacific so that they might stem the Atlantic invasion, which thus far has looked to be unstoppable. Prepared correctly, lionfish Discus Experts are said to make a tasty meal, but one prick from the fish's www.theplantedaquariumstore.com venomous spine can cause excruciating pain. Lionfish derbies to We know DiscusWe Have Discus bring in big catches of the predator have been held in Florida and Start your Discus experience here the Caribbean.

"A lionfish will eat almost any fish smaller than it is," Green said in a statement. "Regarding the large fish we observed in the submersible dives, a real concern is that they could migrate to shallower depths as well and eat many of the fish there. And the control measures we're using at shallower depths — catch them and let people eat them — are not as practical at great depth."

Lionfish also can produce far more offspring when they are large. A big, mature female in some species can have up to 10 times as many offspring as a female that's half its size, researchers say.

Follow Megan Gannon on Twitter and Google+.Follow us @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article onLiveScience.com.

In Photos: Bizarre-Looking Reef Fish

Images: Weird Deep-Sea Sharks

Image Gallery: Invasive Species

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