''Parascorpaena'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of marine

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built fins made of webbings of sk ...

belonging to the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Scorpaenidae The Scorpaenidae (also known as scorpionfish) are a family (biology), family of mostly ocean, marine fish that includes many of the world's most venomous species. As their name suggests, scorpionfish have a type of "sting" in the form of sharp ...

, the scorpionfishes. They are native to the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

and the western

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

Taxonomy

''Parascorpaena'' was first formally described as a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

genus in 1876 by the Dutch

herpetologist Herpetology (from Ancient Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning "reptile" or "creeping animal") is a branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, salamanders, and caecilians (Gymnophiona)) and reptiles (in ...

and

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish (Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 35,800 species of fish had been described as of March 2 ...

Pieter Bleeker Pieter Bleeker (10 July 1819 – 24 January 1878) was a Dutch medical doctor, Ichthyology, ichthyologist, and Herpetology, herpetologist. He was famous for the ''Atlas Ichthyologique des Indes Orientales Néêrlandaises'', his monumental work on ...

with Cuvier's ''Scorpaena picta'' designated as the

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

. The genus name ''Parascorpaena'' means "like ''

Scorpaena ''Scorpaena'' is a widespread genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes. Taxonomy ''Scorpaena'' was first described as a genus in 1758 by Carl Linnaeus in the 10th Edition of his ''Systema Naturae' ...

''", as the type species was described as being similar to that genus but separated from it by the possession an forwards and downwards pointing posterior lacrimal spine.

Species

There are currently seven recognized species in this genus: * '' Parascorpaena aurita'' ( Rüppell, 1838) (Golden scorpionfish) * '' Parascorpaena bandanensis'' ( Bleeker, 1851) (Banda scorpionfish) * '' Parascorpaena maculipinnis''

J. L. B. Smith James Leonard Brierley Smith (26 September 1897 – 8 January 1968) was a South African ichthyology, ichthyologist, organic chemist, and university professor. He was the first to identify a taxidermied fish as a coelacanth, at the time thought t ...

, 1957 * '' Parascorpaena mcadamsi'' ( Fowler, 1938) (McAdam's scorpionfish)

* '' Parascorpaena mossambica'' ( W. K. H. Peters, 1855) (Mozambique scorpionfish) * '' Parascorpaena moultoni'' ( Whitley, 1961) (Coral perch) * '' Parascorpaena picta'' ( G. Cuvier, 1829) (Northern scorpionfish) * '' Parascorpaena poseidon'' T. K. Chou and T. Y. Liao. 2022 Other authorities recognize more valid species and include: * '' Parascorpaena armata'' ( Sauvage 1873) * '' Parascorpaena grandisquamis'' ( Ogilby 1910) FishBase places ''P. grandisquamis'' in ''Scorpaena'' and does not include ''P. armata'' in its online database, but Catalog of Fishes does recognize these as valid species.

References

Scorpaenini Venomous fish Marine fish genera Taxa named by Pieter Bleeker {{Scorpaeniformes-stub