A short-finned lionfish of rubble and debris, with a pale spot behind the gill.
A lionfish to about 25 cm, banded red-brown and cream, with the pectoral fins broad and fan-like and — the key difference from Pterois — webbed nearly to the tips rather than divided into separate free rays. A pale blotch sits behind the head above the pectoral base. The fins are spread as a fan when the fish is disturbed or herding prey and folded flat against rubble the rest of the time.
A shallow-water, structure-loving fish, found among rubble, in debris, under jetty pilings and in the mouths of small caves, usually resting through the day and hunting small fish and crustaceans at dusk and after dark. It uses the spread pectorals to corner prey against a surface. Dorsal spines are venomous, as in the whole family, and this species is untroubled by divers and will not move away, so the usual injuries are from hands and knees rather than from the fish. Recorded from the shallows to about 30 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.
