''Scorpaenopsis'' 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. The fishes in this genus are found in the

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

and

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

''Scorpaenopsis'' was first formally described as a genus in 1837 by the Austrian

taxidermist Taxidermy is the art of preserving an animal's body by mounting (over an armature) or stuffing, for the purpose of display or study. Animals are often, but not always, portrayed in a lifelike state. The word ''taxidermy'' describes the process ...

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

, 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 ...

Johann Jakob Heckel Johann Jakob Heckel (23 January 1790 – 1 March 1857) was an Austrian taxidermist, zoology, zoologist, and ichthyology, ichthyologist from Mannheim in the Electoral Palatinate. He worked at the Royal natural history cabinet in Vienna which later ...

. In 1876

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 ...

designated ''Scorpaena nesogallica'', which had been described in 1829 by

Georges Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, baron Cuvier (23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier (; ), was a French natural history, naturalist and zoology, zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuv ...

from Mauritius, as its

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 ...

. ''S. nesogallica'' was later shown to be a

junior synonym In taxonomy, the scientific classification of living organisms, a synonym is an alternative scientific name for the accepted scientific name of a taxon. The botanical and zoological codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. ...

of ''Scorpaena gibbosa'' which had been described by

Marcus Elieser Bloch Marcus Elieser Bloch (1723–1799) was a German physician and naturalist who is best known for his contribution to ichthyology through his multi-volume catalog of plates illustrating the fishes of the world. Brought up in a Hebrew-speaking Jewish ...

and

Johann Gottlob Schneider Johann Gottlob Theaenus Schneider (18 January 1750 – 12 January 1822) was a German classicist and naturalist. Biography Schneider was born at Collm in Saxony. In 1774, on the recommendation of Christian Gottlob Heine, he became secretary to ...

in 1801 with "America" erroneously given as the type locality of this Indian Ocean species. 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 use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

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 In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

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 ''Scorpaenopsis'' means "having the appearance 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 the type species was originally classified within.

Species

The 28 recognized species in this genus are: * ''

Scorpaenopsis altirostris ''Scorpaenopsis altirostris'' is a species of venomous marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Scorpaenidae The Scorpaenidae (also known as scorpionfish) are a family (biology), family of mostly ocean, marine fish that includes many o ...

'' C. H. Gilbert, 1905 * ''

Scorpaenopsis barbata ''Scorpaenopsis barbata'', the bearded scorpionfish, is a species of Venom, venomous marine Actinopterygii, ray-finned fish belonging to the Family (biology), family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes. This species is found in the Indian Ocean, Ind ...

'' ( Rüppell, 1838) (bearded scorpionfish) * ''

Scorpaenopsis brevifrons ''Scorpaenopsis brevifrons'', the bigmouth scorpionfish, is a species of venomous marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Scorpaenidae The Scorpaenidae (also known as scorpionfish) are a family (biology), family of mostly ocean, marin ...

'' Eschmeyer & J. E. Randall, 1975 (bigmouth scorpionfish) * '' Scorpaenopsis cacopsis'' O. P. Jenkins, 1901 (Jenkins' scorpionfish) * '' Scorpaenopsis cirrosa'' ( Thunberg, 1793) (weedy stingfish) * '' Scorpaenopsis cotticeps'' Fowler, 1938 (sculpin scorpionfish) * '' Scorpaenopsis crenulata'' Motomura &

Causse The Causses () are a group of limestone plateaux (700–1,200 m) in the Massif Central. They are bordered to the north-west by the Limousin and the Périgord uplands, and to the east by the Aubrac and the Cévennes. Large river gorges cut through ...

, 2011 (serrated deepwater scorpionfish) * '' Scorpaenopsis diabolus'' (G. Cuvier, 1829) (false stonefish) * '' Scorpaenopsis eschmeyeri'' J. E. Randall & D. W. Greenfield, 2004 * '' Scorpaenopsis furneauxi'' Whitley, 1959 (Furneaux scorpionfish) * '' Scorpaenopsis gibbosa'' (Bloch & J. G. Schneider, 1801) (humpbacked scorpionfish) * '' Scorpaenopsis gilchristi'' (

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) (Gilchrist's scorpionfish) * '' Scorpaenopsis insperatus'' Motomura, 2004 (Sydney scorpionfish) * '' Scorpaenopsis lactomaculata'' ( Herre, 1945) (whiteblotched scorpionfish) * '' Scorpaenopsis longispina'' J. E. Randall & Eschmeyer, 2001 * '' Scorpaenopsis macrochir'' J. D. Ogilby, 1910 (flasher scorpionfish) * '' Scorpaenopsis neglecta'' Heckel, 1837 (yellowfin scorpionfish) * '' Scorpaenopsis obtusa'' J. E. Randall & Eschmeyer, 2001 (shortsnout scorpionfish) * '' Scorpaenopsis orientalis'' J. E. Randall & Eschmeyer, 2001 * ''

Scorpaenopsis oxycephala ''Scorpaenopsis oxycephalus'', the tasseled scorpionfish, or small-scaled scorpionfish, is a species of venomous marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes. It has a wide distribution in the Indian and Pacific ...

'' (Bleeker, 1849) (tasseled scorpionfish) * '' Scorpaenopsis papuensis'' (G. Cuvier, 1829) (Papuan scorpionfish) * '' Scorpaenopsis pluralis'' J. E. Randall & Eschmeyer, 2001 * '' Scorpaenopsis possi'' J. E. Randall & Eschmeyer, 2001 * '' Scorpaenopsis pusilla'' J. E. Randall & Eschmeyer, 2001 * '' Scorpaenopsis ramaraoi'' J. E. Randall & Eschmeyer, 2001 * '' Scorpaenopsis rubrimarginata'' R. Fricke, Durville & Mulochau, 2013 * '' Scorpaenopsis venosa'' (G. Cuvier, 1829) (raggy scorpionfish) * '' Scorpaenopsis vittapinna'' J. E. Randall & Eschmeyer, 2001

Characteristics

''Scorpaenopsis'' scorpionfishes are characterised by having 12 spines in the

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates. Dorsal fins have evolved independently several times through convergent evolution adapting to marine environments, so the fins are not all homologous. They are found ...

and 3 spines in the

anal fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported o ...

. They do not have any teeth on the

palatine A palatine or palatinus (Latin; : ''palatini''; cf. derivative spellings below) is a high-level official attached to imperial or royal courts in Europe since Roman Empire, Roman times.

. They have some black colouration between the first and the third spines in the dorsal fin. They have a strongly compressed head and no less than 3 suborbital spines. The smallest species is ''S. rubrimarginata'' which has a maximum

total length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies, for data used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fishery biology. Overall length Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish measured f ...

of while the largest is the false stonefish (''S. diabolus'').

Distribution

Scorpaenopsis scorpionfishes are found in the Indian and Pacific Oceans from the Red Sea and the coasts of Eastern Africa into the Pacific where it extends as Far East as

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

, north to Japan and south to Australia.

References

{{Authority control Scorpaenini Venomous fish Marine fish genera Taxa named by Johann Jakob Heckel