Scorpaenopsis
Scorpaenopsis is a genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes. The fishes in this genus are found in the Indian and Pacific Ocean.
Taxonomy
Scorpaenopsis was first formally described as a genus in 1837 by the Austrian taxidermist, zoologist, and ichthyologist Johann Jakob Heckel. In 1876 Pieter Bleeker designated Scorpaena nesogallica, which had been described in 1829 by Georges Cuvier from Mauritius, as its type species. S. nesogallica was later shown to be a junior synonym of Scorpaena gibbosa which had been described by Marcus Elieser Bloch and Johann Gottlob Schneider in 1801 with "America" erroneously given as the type locality of this Indian Ocean species. This genus is classified within the tribe Scorpaenini, in the subfamily Scorpaeninae of the family Scorpaenidae. The genus name Scorpaenopsis means "having the appearance of Scorpaena, the genus the type species was originally classified within.
Species
The 28 recognized species in this genus are:Scorpaenopsis altirostris C. H. Gilbert, 1905Scorpaenopsis barbata Scorpaenopsis brevifrons Eschmeyer & J. E. Randall, 1975 Scorpaenopsis cacopsis O. P. Jenkins, 1901 Scorpaenopsis cirrosa Scorpaenopsis cotticeps Fowler, 1938 Scorpaenopsis crenulata Motomura & Causse, 2011 Scorpaenopsis diabolus Scorpaenopsis eschmeyeri J. E. Randall & D. W. Greenfield, 2004Scorpaenopsis furneauxi Whitley, 1959 Scorpaenopsis gibbosa Scorpaenopsis gilchristi Scorpaenopsis insperatus Motomura, 2004 Scorpaenopsis lactomaculata Scorpaenopsis longispina J. E. Randall & Eschmeyer, 2001Scorpaenopsis macrochir J. D. Ogilby, 1910 Scorpaenopsis neglecta Heckel, 1837 Scorpaenopsis obtusa J. E. Randall & Eschmeyer, 2001 Scorpaenopsis orientalis J. E. Randall & Eschmeyer, 2001Scorpaenopsis oxycephala Scorpaenopsis papuensis Scorpaenopsis pluralis J. E. Randall & Eschmeyer, 2001Scorpaenopsis possi J. E. Randall & Eschmeyer, 2001Scorpaenopsis pusilla J. E. Randall & Eschmeyer, 2001Scorpaenopsis ramaraoi J. E. Randall & Eschmeyer, 2001Scorpaenopsis rubrimarginata R. Fricke, Durville & Mulochau, 2013Scorpaenopsis venosa Scorpaenopsis vittapinna J. E. Randall & Eschmeyer, 2001
Characteristics
Scorpaenopsis scorpionfishes are characterised by having 12 spines in the dorsal fin and 3 spines in the anal fin. They do not have any teeth on the palatine. 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 of while the largest is the false stonefish.
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, north to Japan and south to Australia.