Lionfish are voracious eaters and can expand their stomachs 30 times their original volume to accommodate that appetite. One of the most notorious invasive species around, the lionfish, is known for its voracious appetite and can literally eat its competitors out of an ecosystem. And that's what the striking fish is doing, feasting its way through waters that stretch from the Gulf of Mexico to the Eastern Seaboard. Now, scientists and startups are crafting methods for capturing and killing the hungry invaders. But while these new ideas show promise, tried-and-true spearfishing seems to be the most effective way to eradicate lionfish, scientists told Live Science. "It's actually hard to describe how a lionfish eats because they do it in a split second," said Kristen Dahl, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Florida.

Lionfish are threats to not only fragile coral reef ecosystems, but the divers who keep them in check. They not only take advantage of unsuspecting fish populations, but carry poisonous spines that make them challenging to catch. Student researchers at Worcester Polytechnic Institute may have a solution: robotic guardians. They've crafted an autonomous robot (below) that can hunt lionfish without requiring a tethered operator that could harm the reefs. The bot attaches to an existing submersible robot and relies on computer vision (trained with thousands of photos) to spot examples of the invasive species and jab them with one of its eight spears.

This 3D rendering of a lionfish harvester robot was developed by Robotics in Service of the Environment (RISE). The prototype uses a robot arm with two metal electrodes on the end to electrocute invasive lionfish, which are then collected in a central chamber for use as food. The America's Cup sailing race kicked off this week in Bermuda, but a month ago, a different type of competition was held in the island's lucid waters. It was a contest that pitted chef against chef and robot against beast. Last August, NewsHour broke the story of a robot being developed to stop lionfish, an invasive species that has decimated Atlantic coral reef ecosystems due to their insatiable appetites for other fish.

HARI SREENIVASAN: Lionfish have voracious appetites that are upsetting coral reef ecosystems from Rhode Island to Venezuela. But a new nonprofit company has an unusual plan to restore balance to those environments before it's too late. In the latest edition of our online series "ScienceScope," science producer Nsikan Akpan has the scoop. NSIKAN AKPAN: The lionfish is an invasive species. In its native home of the Indo-Pacific, the lionfish is a fierce, unrelenting predator.

"The problem with the lionfish is it's like Darwin's nightmare," Oliver Steeds said, standing on the deck of the Baseline Explorer. A late afternoon sun dwindled over the 146-foot research vessel, as it sat anchored in St. George's Harbour on Bermuda's northeast corner. Licks of ocean water dried off a gold-plated submersible parked next to Steeds, the director of a deep ocean exploration project called the Nekton mission, as he recounted the basics of the invasive species. "Lionfish are chowing their way through the food chain, because they don't have any predators," Steeds said. Map of the lionfish spread based on sightings from 1985 to 2015. The first lionfish sightings occurred off the Florida coast in the mid-1980s.