''Scorpaenodes'' is a widespread

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

of marine

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or h ...

belonging to the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Scorpaenidae The Scorpaenidae (also known as scorpionfish) are a family of mostly 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 spines coated with venom ...

, the scorpionfishes. The fishes in this genus are found to the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

and

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

Taxonomy

''Scorpaenodes'' was first formally described as a genus in 1857 by the Dutch

physician A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...

herpetologist Herpetology (from Greek ἑρπετόν ''herpetón'', meaning " reptile" or "creeping animal") is the branch of zoology concerned with the study of amphibians (including frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, and caecilians (gymnophiona)) and r ...

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, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of October ...

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

, Bleeker designated ''Scorpaena polylepsis'' as its

type species In 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 species that contains the biological type specimen( ...

monotypy 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 "unispe ...

. He had originally described this species from Western Sumatra in 1851. ''S. polylepsis'' was later shown to be junior synonym of ''Scorpaena guamensis'' which had been described from Guam by

Jean René Constant Quoy Jean René Constant Quoy (10 November 1790 in Maillé – 4 July 1869 in Rochefort) was a French naval surgeon, zoologist and anatomist. In 1806, he began his medical studies at the school of naval medicine at Rochefort, afterwards serving as ...

and

Joseph Paul Gaimard Joseph Paul Gaimard (31 January 1793 – 10 December 1858) was a French naval surgeon and naturalist. Biography Gaimard was born at Saint-Zacharie on January 31, 1793. He studied medicine at the naval medical school in Toulon, subsequ ...

in 1824 from

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic ce ...

. This genus is classified within the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confl ...

Scorpaenini Scorpaenini is a tribe of marine ray-finned fishes, one of two tribes in the subfamily Scorpaeninae. This tribe contains the "typical" or "true" scorpionfishes. The taxonomy of the scorpionfishes is in some flux, the 5th Edition of Fishes of the ...

, in the subfamily

Scorpaeninae Scorpaeninae is a subfamily of ray-finned fish belonging to the family Scorpaenidae in the order Scorpaeniformes, it includes the scorpionfishes, the lionfishes and turkeyfishes. They bear venomous spines in the anal, dorsal and pelvic fins which ...

of the family Scorpaenidae. The genus name ''Scorpaenodes'' means having the form of ''

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 ...

'' the genus Bleeker originally placed the type species in.

Species

There are currently 29 recognized species in this genus: * ''

Scorpaenodes africanus ''Scorpaenodes'' is a widespread genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes. The fishes in this genus are found to the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Ocean. Taxonomy ''Scorpaenodes'' was first formally ...

Pfaff PFAFF (german: PFAFF Industriesysteme und Maschinen AG, PFAFF Industrial) is a German manufacturer of sewing machines and is now owned by the SGSB Co. Ltd. History PFAFF was founded in Kaiserslautern, Germany, in 1862 by instrument maker Ge ...

, 1933 * ''

Scorpaenodes albaiensis ''Scorpaenodes'' is a widespread genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes. The fishes in this genus are found to the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Ocean. Taxonomy ''Scorpaenodes'' was first fo ...

'' ( Evermann & Seale, 1907) (Long-fingered scorpionfish) * ''

Scorpaenodes arenai ''Scorpaenodes'' is a widespread genus of marine Actinopterygii, ray-finned fish belonging to the Family (biology), family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes. The fishes in this genus are found to the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Indian ...

'' Torchio, 1962 (Messina scorpionfish) * ''

Scorpaenodes barrybrowni ''Scorpaenodes'' is a widespread genus of marine Actinopterygii, ray-finned fish belonging to the Family (biology), family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes. The fishes in this genus are found to the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Indian ...

'' Pitassy & C. C. Baldwin, 2016 (Stellate scorpionfish) Baldwin, C.C., Pitassy, D.E. & Robertson, D.R. (2016): A new deep-reef scorpionfish (Teleostei, Scorpaenidae, ''Scorpaenodes'') from the southern Caribbean with comments on depth distributions and relationships of western Atlantic members of the genus. ''ZooKeys, 606: 141–158.'' * '' Scorpaenodes bathycolus'' G. R. Allen & Erdmann, 2012 Allen, G.R. & Erdmann, M.V. (2012): Reef Fishes of the East Indies. ''Reef Fishes of the East Indies.'' Volumes I-III. Tropical Reef Research, Perth, Australia. 1292pp. University of Hawai'i Press. . * '' Scorpaenodes caribbaeus''

Meek Meekness is an attribute of human nature and behavior that has been defined as an amalgam of righteousness, inner humility, and patience. Meekness has been contrasted with humility alone insomuch as humility simply refers to an attitude towards o ...

Hildebrand Hildebrand is a character from Germanic heroic legend. ''Hildebrand'' is the modern German form of the name: in Old High German it is ''Hiltibrant'' and in Old Norse ''Hildibrandr''. The word ''hild'' means "battle" and ''brand'' means "sword". ...

, 1928 (Reef scorpionfish) * '' Scorpaenodes corallinus''

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 ...

, 1957 * ''

Scorpaenodes elongatus ''Scorpaenodes'' is a widespread genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes. The fishes in this genus are found to the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Ocean. Taxonomy ''Scorpaenodes'' was first formally ...

'' Cadenat, 1950 (African spotted scorpionfish) * ''

Scorpaenodes englerti ''Scorpaenodes'' is a widespread genus of marine Actinopterygii, ray-finned fish belonging to the Family (biology), family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes. The fishes in this genus are found to the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Indian ...

'' Eschmeyer & G. R. Allen, 1971 (Englert's scorpionfish) * ''

Scorpaenodes evides ''Scorpaenodes evides'', the cheekspot scorpionfish, little scorpionfish or shore scorpionfish, is a species of venomous marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes. This species is found in the Indian and Paci ...

'' ( D. S. Jordan & W. F. Thompson, 1914) (Cheek-spot scorpionfish) Motomura, H., Arbsuwan, S. & Musikasinthorn, P. (2010)
''Thysanichthys evides'', a Senior Synonym of ''Sebastella littoralis'', and a Valid Species of ''Scorpaenodes'' (Actinopterygii: Scorpaenidae).
''Species Diversity, 15 (2): 71–81.'' * ''

Scorpaenodes guamensis ''Scorpaenodes guamensis'', the Guam scorpionfish or common scorpionfish, is a species of venomous, marine, ray-finned fish belonging to the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes. It has a wide Indo-Pacific distribution. Taxonomy ''Scorpaenode ...

'' ( Quoy &

Gaimard Joseph Paul Gaimard (31 January 1793 – 10 December 1858) was a French naval surgeon A naval surgeon, or less commonly ship's doctor, is the person responsible for the health of the ship's company aboard a warship. The term appears often ...

, 1824) (Guam scorpionfish) Motomura, H., Causse, R. & Struthers, C.D. (2016): Redescription of the Indo-Pacific scorpionfish ''Scorpaenodes guamensis'' (Quoy & Gaimard 1824) (Scorpaenidae), a senior synonym of seven nominal species. ''Zootaxa, 4067 (3): 345–360.'' * ''

Scorpaenodes hirsutus ''Scorpaenodes'' is a widespread genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes. The fishes in this genus are found to the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Ocean. Taxonomy ''Scorpaenodes'' was first fo ...

'' (J. L. B. Smith, 1957) (Hairy scorpionfish) * ''

Scorpaenodes immaculatus ''Scorpaenodes'' is a widespread genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Scorpaenidae The Scorpaenidae (also known as scorpionfish) are a family of mostly marine fish that includes many of the world's most venomous species. ...

'' Poss &

Collette Collette is both a surname and a given name. Notable people with the name include: Surname * (born 1995), French dancer and artist *Bruce Baden Collette (born 1934), American ichthyologist * Jeff Collette, professional wrestler who was managed by ...

, 1990 * '' Scorpaenodes insularis'' Eschmeyer, 1971 * '' Scorpaenodes investigatoris'' Rama Rao, 1972 * ''Scorpaenodes kelloggi">Kaza_V._Rama_Rao.html" ;"title="schmeyer & Rama Rao, 1972 * ''Scorpaenodes kelloggi'' (Oliver Peebles Jenkins">O. P. Jenkins, 1903) (Kellogg's scorpionfish) * ''Scorpaenodes minor">Kaza V. Rama Rao">Rama Rao, 1972 * ''Scorpaenodes kelloggi'' (Oliver Peebles Jenkins">O. P. Jenkins, 1903) (Kellogg's scorpionfish) * ''Scorpaenodes minor'' (J. L. B. Smith, 1958) (Minor scorpionfish) * ''Scorpaenodes muciparus'' (Alfred William Alcock, Alcock, 1889) * ''Scorpaenodes parvipinnis'' (Andrew Garrett (explorer), A. Garrett, 1864) (Low-fin scorpionfish) * ''Scorpaenodes quadrispinosus'' David Wayne Greenfield, D. W. Greenfield &

Matsuura Matsuura (written: 松浦) is a Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Akiko Matsuura, Japanese drummer *Atsushi Matsuura (footballer born 1982), former Japanese football player * Atsushi Matsuura (footballer born 1981), form ...

, 2002 (Four-spine scorpionfish) * ''

Scorpaenodes rubrivinctus ''Scorpaenodes'' is a widespread genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes. The fishes in this genus are found to the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Ocean. Taxonomy ''Scorpaenodes'' was first fo ...

'' Poss, McCosker & C. C. Baldwin, 2010 * '' Scorpaenodes scaber'' ( E. P. Ramsay & J. D. Ogilby, 1886) (Pygmy scorpionfish) * '' Scorpaenodes smithi'' Eschmeyer & Rama Rao, 1972 (Little scorpionfish) * '' Scorpaenodes steenei'' G. R. Allen, 1977 (Steene's scorpionfish) * ''

Scorpaenodes steinitzi ''Scorpaenodes'' is a widespread genus of marine Actinopterygii, ray-finned fish belonging to the Family (biology), family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes. The fishes in this genus are found to the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Indian ...

'' Klausewitz & Frøiland, 1970 * '' Scorpaenodes tredecimspinosus'' ( Metzelaar, 1919) (Deep-reef scorpionfish) * '' Scorpaenodes tribulosus'' Eschmeyer, 1969 * ''

Scorpaenodes varipinnis ''Scorpaenodes'' is a widespread genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes. The fishes in this genus are found to the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Ocean. Taxonomy ''Scorpaenodes'' was first formally ...

'' J. L. B. Smith, 1957 (Blotch-fin scorpionfish) * '' Scorpaenodes xyris'' (D. S. Jordan & C. H. Gilbert, 1882) (Rainbow scorpionfish)

Characteristics

''Scorpaenodes'' scorpionfishes have a very bony head which is defended by numerous spines and lacks an occipital pit. There is a longitudinal suborbital ridge which has 1-4 spines and may have another row of spines underneath those. There are teeth on the centre of the roof of the mouth but not on its sides. The

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through c ...

has 13 spines and between 8 and 10 soft rays while the

anal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as s ...

has 3 spines and 4 or 5 soft rays, the posteriormost dorsal and anal soft rays are branched. There are 15-20 fin rays in the

pectoral fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as ...

with the lower rays being branched and the central rays being the longest. The scales are rough and typically extend onto the head. There are small spiny rays at top and bottom of the base of

caudal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as s ...

. The largest species is ''S. africanus'' which has a maximum published total length of , however most species are less than in length.

Distribution and habitat

''Scorpaenodes'' scorpionfishes have a circum-tropical distribution and are found in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. They are found in coastal waters on coral and rocky reefs and other hard substrates.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2206037 Scorpaenini Taxa named by Pieter Bleeker Venomous fish Marine fish genera