Fringed scorpionfish
| Fringed scorpionfish | ||||||||||||
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Tentacle scorpionfish ( Rhinopias frondosa ) |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Rhinopias | ||||||||||||
| Gill , 1905 |
Fringed scorpion fish ( Rhinopias ) are a genus of bony fish from the family of scorpion fish (Scorpaenidae). They occur in the Indo-Pacific from South and East Africa via Mauritius , the coast of India , northern Australia , Indonesia , the Philippines to Japan , New Guinea , the Carolina , Hawaii , Vanuatu , New Caledonia and Easter Island . They live well camouflaged there in coral reefs , on soft soils overgrown with algae and seaweed and on overgrown rock reefs at depths of up to 125 meters.
features
Fringed scorpionfish grow to a length of 15 to 25 centimeters. Your body is high back and strongly flattened on the sides. The head profile is concave, the eyes protrude, the mouth is sloping upwards. The head, fins and body are often provided with fringe-like, often branched skin outgrowths, so that the contour of the fish dissolves and they appear hairy or shaggy. Their body color is very variable and can be red, orange, pink, purple, green or brown. Many are also striped or provided with a dot or speckled pattern. Despite the striking colors, the fish are well camouflaged in the colorful surroundings of a coral reef and can hardly be discovered between corals, sessile hydrozoans , sponges , algae and sea squirts .
The dorsal fin is supported by twelve fin spines and nine soft rays. The anal fin has three spines and five soft rays. The spines of the dorsal, anal and pelvic fins are, as in all scorpion fish , provided with poison glands.
Way of life
The fringed scorpionfish feed on prawns, crabs and other small crustaceans as stalkers. They feed mainly at night. Despite their toxicity, fringed scorpion fish are eaten by moray eels , groupers , puffer fish and porcupine fish . They are likely sensitive to parasites and skin diseases, and they shed their epidermis on a regular basis.
Fringed scorpion fish spawn in the evening at dusk. The spawning is preceded by an unspectacular courtship. The spawn is deposited in open water while the fish jerks a few centimeters above the sea floor. The ejected egg ball contains thousands of eggs and swells to many times its original size after spawning. The hatched larvae are initially pelagic.
species
- Algae scorpionfish ( Rhinopias aphanes Eschmeyer , 1973 )
- Rhinopias argoliba Eschmeyer, Hirosaki & Abe , 1973
- Rhinopias cea Randall & DiSalvo , 1997
- Eschmeyer's dragon head ( Rhinopias eschmeyeri Condé , 1977 )
- Tentacle scorpionfish ( Rhinopias frondosa ( Günther , 1892) )
- Xenop scorpionfish ( Rhinopias xenops ( Gilbert , 1905) )
Some of the species described probably only represent morphs with different colors or local forms of another species.
literature
- Ellen Thaler : Fringed Scorpionfish ( Rhinopias ). in Koralle, marine aquarium specialist magazine, No. 62, April / May 2010, Natur und Tier Verlag Münster, ISSN 1439-779X
- Matthias Bergbauer / Robert F. Myers / Manuela Kirschner: The Kosmos Handbook Dangerous Sea Animals , Kosmos Stuttgart, 2008, ISBN 978-3-440-10945-8
- Hans A. Baensch / Robert A. Patzner: Mergus Sea Water Atlas Volume 6 Non-Perciformes (Non-Perciformes) , Mergus-Verlag, Melle, ISBN 3-88244-116-X
Web links
- Rhinopias on Fishbase.org (English)