One of the best-camouflaged fish in the eastern Pacific, sometimes with algae growing on the skin, which it sheds periodically.
To about 30 cm, and one of the best-camouflaged fish in the eastern Pacific: mottled to match rock, encrusted in appearance, and often with algae actually growing on the skin. It sheds that skin periodically, which is how a fish that never moves keeps from disappearing under its own growth.
It sits on rocky reef in the Galapagos and at Cocos and does not move when approached. The dorsal spines are venomous. Everything in the spotted scorpionfish entry applies here: look before you place a hand, and hot water and a doctor if you did not.
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.
