Residents help tame lionfish

+ Residents help tame lionfish
A total of 251 lionfish were scooped out of the ocean for the inaugural Sarasota Lionfish Derby last weekend. The invasive species is not native to the Gulf of Mexico and has few natural predators. The three-day event was hosted by Zookeeper, which manufactures lionfish containment units for catching lionfish.

The winning team was Jim’s Dive Shop. The largest lionfish that was caught measured 14 ¾ inches, and the smallest was 5 ¾ inches.