A heavy-bodied scorpionfish of rubble and sand, hard to separate from its relatives.
A scorpionfish to about 25 cm, thickset, with a large head, a hollow behind the eyes and a back that rises in a low hump. Skin flaps and short tassels sit around the jaw and along the flank, and the colour runs through brown, red, grey and cream to match whatever the fish is resting on. Encrusting growth accumulates on the skin between moults, so an individual becomes harder to pick out the longer it stays in one place.
The genus is difficult. Species are separated on head spination, on the length of the fleshy tabs under the jaw, and on the pattern of the inner surface of the pectoral fin, which is only visible when the fish spreads it. The devil scorpionfish, the likeliest confusion on the same ground, shows bright yellow and orange there when it flares.
It sits on rubble, sand and encrusted debris, moves little, and takes small fish and crustaceans by ambush. Recorded from about 3 to 40 m.
Ratings are per location: 1 means found on most dives that look for it, 5 means a handful of records. Where enough dives have been logged the figure is calculated from them; otherwise it is an editorial estimate, and says so. We publish habitat and destination, not the dive site.
