Normally, jewelfish are found in the Nile or for sale in pet shops. Today, they can also be found swimming around in an unlikely place: The Florida Everglades.
Peter Flood wants to understand if these non-native fish are hurting or helping different ecosystems across the Everglades.
Jewelfish first began to appear in South Florida waterways in the 1960’s after they were dumped by their owners. Traveling through the canal systems, they eventually made their way into the Everglades. Their population rapidly began to grow in 2012.
There hasn’t been a lot of research on how jewelfish are interacting with other native fish. Flood, a biology Ph.D. student in the FIU Institute of Environment, wants to fill that void.
“They are definitely changing things,” Flood said. “A lot of times with non-native species, in general, there is a perception that they may be helpful in one dimension. But there are probably dozens of other dimensions where they are having a negative impact.”
Flood is going to be looking at these different dimensions. He points out just because a species is introduced to a new ecosystem doesn’t necessarily mean it will cause massive disruption.
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July 01, 2020 at 04:00AM
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