- Habitat
- Reef
- Max size
- 36 cm
- Depth
- 0-400 m
- Family
- Scorpaenidae
Scorpaenopsis oxycephalus, the tasseled scorpionfish, or small-scaled scorpionfish, is a species of venomous marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes. It has a wide distribution in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the largest species in its genus.
Adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Easily confused with
Side by side, with what tells them apart.
Two camouflaged scorpionfish on the same reefs. Tasseled Scorpionfish has a long snout fringed with a beard of tassels around the mouth, a slimmer body, and often a darker triangle below the eye. False Stonefish has a humped back and a broad head with no beard, and flashes orange, black and white under its pectoral fins when disturbed.
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 Reef Stonefish →