Scorpionfish

About Scorpionfish

Family Scorpaenidae. Including: Scorpionfishes (Scorpaena species); California scorpionfish or sculpin (Scorpaena guttata); Nohus (Scorpaenopsis species); Redfish, rosefish, or ocean perch (Sebasters marinus); rockfishes (Sebasters species, Sebastodes species); Pacific ocean perch (Sebastes alutus); Chilipepper (Sebastes goodel); Bocaccio (Sebastes paucipinus); Shortspine thornyhead or channel rockfish (Sebastolobus alascanus)

Scorpaena scrofa, the red scorpionfish, bigscale scorpionfish, large-scaled scorpion fish, or rascasse is a venomous marine species of ray-finned fish in the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes. It is found in the Mediterranean Sea, in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the western Indian Ocean.

Scorpaena scrofa, the red scorpionfish, bigscale scorpionfish, large-scaled scorpion fish, or rascasse is a venomous marine species of ray-finned fish in the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes. It is found in the Mediterranean Sea, in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the western Indian Ocean. Taxonomy Scorpaena scrofa was first formally described in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th edition of his Systema Naturae in which he gave the type localities as the Mediterranean Sea at Rome and Marseille. The specific name scrofa means “a breeding sow” in Latin, presumed to derive from scrofano and scrofanello, which are Italian names for the black scorpionfish (S. porcus) and this species, similar to the Old English “hogfish”, possible an allusion to Renaissance mistranslations of Athenaeus’ observation that scorpionfishes fed on algae or weed, that led to the belief that these fishes live and feed on mud. Description Scorpaena scrofa is the largest eastern Atlantic scorpion fish. Its colouration ranges from brick red to a light pink, and it has dark-coloured blotches on its body. It has venomous spines, and can achieve a maximum weight around 3 kg (6.6 lb). It can grow to a…