For the lionfish questions: Watch this video, and then research the spread of lionfish in the Atlantic Ocean. Be sure to use credible sources. During your research, find answers to these questions:
What are the current estimates of lionfish in the Atlantic Ocean?
Why did their numbers increase so quickly in the Atlantic Ocean?
What’s the ecosystem like in the Atlantic Ocean? Who are the producers, consumers, and decomposers? Find two or three examples of each.
Where do lionfish fit in the ecosystem?
Who are the natural predators of lionfish in their native region?
Who are their natural predators in the Atlantic Ocean?
My Answers: The NOAA recent estimates of lionfish is reporting over 1,000 lionfish per acre and are able to survive in a range of habitats and depths (2-140m). And while the exact cause of the increase numbers is unknown, it's more than likely that humans provided a helping hand for the increase. What’s the ecosystem like in the Atlantic Ocean? Experts speculate that people have been dumping unwanted lionfish from home aquariums into the Atlantic Ocean for more than 25 years. Who are the Producers, consumers, and decomposers? Producers use energy and inorganic molecules to make food. Consumers take in food by eating producers or other living things. Decomposers break down dead organisms and other organic wastes and release inorganic molecules back to the environment.
Lionfish are found in mostly all marine habitat types found in warm marine waters of the tropics. Lionfish have no natural predators in their invasive range. We're not entirely certain what eats lionfish in their native range, but it's most likely large predators like grouper, snapper, eels and sharks.
Edmentum Answer: Lionfish are native to the Indo-Pacific region. However, a hurricane caused six fish from an aquarium to accidentally be swept out into the Atlantic Ocean. Female lionfish produce thousands of eggs at a time, which has allowed their population to rapidly increase in the Atlantic. There’s no firm estimate of the number of lionfish in the Atlantic Ocean right now. However, it might be as many as 375 to 1,000 lionfish per acre of ocean. These fish have predators such as sharks and scorpion fish in their natural habitat. However, they don’t have many natural predators in the Atlantic Ocean, where the typical predatory animals don’t seem to recognize lionfish as food. Their one predator is humans, who have recently started fishing them for food. In the Atlantic Ocean, algae and seaweed are producers. Small fish, crabs, and other crustaceans make up the first and secondary consumers. Sharks and orcas are some of the larger predators, which are also consumers. Bacteria and fungi are the decomposers that break down food. Lionfish are consumers because they eat fish and small crustaceans.