- Habitat
- Reef
- Max size
- 46 cm
- Depth
- 0-30 m
- Family
- Synanceiidae
Synanceia verrucosa, the reef stonefish, is a species of venomous, marine ray-finned fish, belonging to the subfamily Synanceiinae, which is classified as being within the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes and their relatives. It is the most widespread species of stonefish, mostly found in shallow waters of the Red Sea and the Indo-Pacific. It possesses highly effective venom that can kill humans. It is the type species of Synanceia.
Adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Easily confused with
Side by side, with what tells them apart.
The pair where a mistake can hurt: both sit still like a rock, and Reef Stonefish carries the most potent venom of any fish. Reef Stonefish has a wide, flat head with small eyes on top, each with a deep pit behind it, an upturned mouth, and warty, scaleless skin. False Stonefish has a humped back and, when disturbed, flashes the insides of its pectoral fins, blotched orange, black and white. Both are venomous: touch and stand on neither.
See the False Stonefish →
Both lie still looking like a weedy rock, and both have venomous spines. Reef Stonefish has a broad, flattened head with small eyes set on top, a mouth that opens straight upward, and warty skin with no scales; it sits on shallow sand, rubble and in tide pools. Tasseled Scorpionfish has a long snout fringed with a beard of tassels, a slimmer body and often a dark triangle below the eye, and lives on clear outer slopes. The stonefish's venom is the stronger: step on neither.
See the Tasseled Scorpionfish →