FWC: 36,000 invasive Lion fish removed during Florida's 2026 challenge
The FWC recorded over 36,000 lionfish captured this summer during its 2026 Lionfish Challenge. Credit: @myfwc Instagram
FLORIDA - The Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) reported its newest record of lionfish removal, with over 36,000 lionfish captured from Florida's waters. This number was achieved through the FWC's 2026 Lionfish Challenge, an annual competition that runs all summer long.
What is the Lionfish Challenge?
The backstory:
According to the FWC, the Lionfish Challenge began as an initiative to promote and reward the removal of lionfish from native waters. This year, the competition started on May. 22, 2026 and ended on Sept. 14, 2026.
This year's winners and catches
By the numbers:
A total of 533 participants registered in the tournament. This year, the organization expanded its range of categories for the competition. This year's six categories and winners were:
- Lionfish King—Hunter Ledbetter of Monroe County, removed a total of 1,541 lionfish.
- Lionfish Queen — Helen Rodney of Broward County, harvested a total of 1,488 lionfish.
- Commercial Champion — David Garrett of Volusia County removed 1,136 pounds of lionfish.
- Junior Champion — Meagan Huffman of Texas, who removed 185 lionfish.
- Veteran Champion — Ledbetter, U.S. Marine Corps.
- Top Checkpoint-Dive Pros in Pensacola. They retrieved over 5000 lionfish tails
Why you should care:
According to the FWC, the organization has marked the species as non-native and invasive. Lionfish are considered a predatory reef fish, meaning they eat native fish that play a key role in maintaining the algae and overall health and habitat of local reefs.
Lionfish also compete with native predatory fish species like grouper and snapper.
The Source: This article was written with information gathered from a news release by Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) and its website.