A large red scorpionfish of Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic reefs, sitting motionless on rock and rubble.
A heavy-bodied scorpionfish to about 50 cm, red to red-brown, with a large head, fleshy skin flaps on the jaw and above the eyes, and a broken outline that works well against rock and coralline algae.
It sits on rock, rubble and the edges of seagrass from a few metres to over a hundred, and it does not move when approached. That is the whole of the risk: it will be exactly where a hand goes, and it will not leave.
The venom is in the fin spines and the injury is painful and slow to settle. As with every scorpionfish, the answer is not to put a hand down without looking at what is under it.
This entry carries no occurrence record. The animal is listed because it is a hazard a diver should be able to look up, and its range is given above, but none of the destinations this site holds data for is inside that range. A record will be added when there is one to add rather than an estimate to invent.
