Maritime Aquarium Presents 'Turkeyfish Weekend'

From the Maritime Aquarium:

NORWALK, CT – Soon we will sit down to our Thanksgiving turkey dinners. But, first, on November 12 and 13, The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk invites guests to gobble up some turkeyfish.

“Turkeyfish” is another name for lionfish, the invasive species in the spotlight during the Aquarium’s annual “Turkeyfish Weekend.” Lionfish are nicknamed “turkeyfish” because their splay of fins and venomous spines resembles a male turkey in full display.

During “Turkeyfish Weekend,” The Maritime Aquarium will support a federal “Eat Lionfish” campaign. While supplies last, the Aquarium’s onsite caterer, Philip Stone Caterers, will serve up free samples of turkeyfish ceviche in the Cascade Café. (Only the spines of lionfish contain venom, and they are removed during filleting.)

Plus, at a special station, Aquarium guests can safely touch real lionfish spines while learning about lionfish and the issues that lionfish cause on the Atlantic coast. Activities will extend to other invasive species – explaining why invasive animals and plants are such a threat to our native species – and also to supporting sustainable seafoods.

Guests on November 12 and 13 also can make a turkeyfish craft, pose as a turkeyfish in a fun photo opp, and of course visit live turkeyfish. (See them in an exhibit just before the sea turtles.)

Lionfish (Pterois volitans) are native to the Indian and western Pacific oceans, but divers – presumably, some very surprised divers – first encountered them off Florida’s Atlantic coast in 1985. How’d they get there? Well, because lionfish have such a cool unique appearance, they’ve been popular with people who keep saltwater aquariums. Scientists suspect that a few of these folks in Florida released their “pets” into the Atlantic. (The first known instance of lionfish escaping into the Atlantic is said to have occurred in Biscayne Bay, Fla., in 1992 when Hurricane Andrew destroyed a beachside house and the home aquarium inside.)

However the lionfish got into Florida’s waters, the fish found things to its liking and started snacking on the native species and making more lionfish. Since then, lionfish have spread throughout the Bahamas, Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, and also north – now as far as Rhode Island and the south shore of Long Island.

Larger fish species on our coastline – the apex predators like sharks and grouper – aren’t wired to recognize lionfish as food, so the lionfish population has been able to grow unchecked.

It’s troubling enough, having a venomous, predator-less fish marching up the Atlantic. Even worse: lionfish are voracious eaters, so they can quickly and drastically reduce the fish population on a reef.

Perhaps the best hope in stopping lionfish lies with the creatures that by far consume the most

seafood: us! In 2010, the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) kicked off a “Eat Lionfish” campaign. It turns out, when properly and safely filleted, lionfish is – according to NOAA – a “delicious, delicately flavored fish” that can be fried, grilled or used in ceviche. Eating lionfish has two benefits: helping to control the lionfish population, while providing a seafood alternative to such overfished species as snapper and grouper.

John Lenzycki, the Aquarium’s curator of animals, said commercial trawlers can’t drag nets through reefs to catch lionfish, for fear of damaging the reefs. Instead, the fish generally must be caught by spear-fishermen, and that limits the harvest.

“That’s why you don’t see lionfish in Connecticut fish markets,” Lenzycki said. “But we might eventually if the demand increases. This is one rare instance where overfishing a species off our coast would be beneficial.”

All the activities on “Turkeyfish Weekend” are free with Aquarium admission.

Learn more about Maritime Aquarium special events, programs, exhibits and IMAX® movies this fall at www.maritimeaquarium.org.

Images via the Maritime Aquarium.