''Parascorpaena picta'', the Northern scorpionfish, painted scorpionfish or marbled rock cod is a species 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 hor ...

belonging to the

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

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. This species is native to the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...

and the western

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 continen ...

. This species grows to a length of TL.

Taxonomy

''Parascorpaena picta'' was first formally described in 1829 as ''Scorpaena picta'', probably by the French

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

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". Cuvier ...

with the type locality given as

Java Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's List ...

. The specimen was part of an extensive collection of flora and fauna assembled by Heinrich Kuhl and Johan Conrad van Hasselt, who are sometimes given as the authors of the species description. In 1876 the Dutch

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 Octobe ...

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 ...

placed this species in the

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 "unispec ...

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

Parascorpaena ''Parascorpaena'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes. They are native to the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean. Taxonomy ''Parascorpaena'' was first formally described as a mon ...

'' and he explicitly designated ''Scorpaena picta'' as the

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 ...

of the new genus. The specific epithet ''picta'' means "painted", a name provided by the collectors which Cuvier conserved, and which refers to the marbled pattern which is similar to other species 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 ...

''.

Description

''Parascorpaena picta'' has 12 spines and 8 to 9, typically 9, spines in its dorsal fin and 3 spines and 5 soft rays in its anal fin. The pectoral fins normally have 17 fin tays but infrequently these could number 16 or 18. The first and second suborbital ridges are fused, creating a single ridge which has two spines to the rear of the level of the orbit. There are no spines below the eye and the ridges between the eyes are weakly developed, and do not surround a hollow and there is a poorly developed occipital pit which is barely a hollow. The head is very large with a wide mouth and large bulging eyes that protrude above the dorsal profile of the head. The head and body have a number of skin flaps on them. This species attains a maximum

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

of . It has a mottled, brownish coloured body and there is no black spot on the spiny part of the dorsal fin. The Northern scorpionfish is similar to the

golden scorpionfish Golden means made of, or relating to gold. Golden may also refer to: Places United Kingdom *Golden, in the parish of Probus, Cornwall *Golden Cap, Dorset *Golden Square, Soho, London *Golden Valley, a valley on the River Frome in Gloucestershir ...

(''Parascorpaena aurita'') but can be distinguished by is poorly developed interorbital ridges which do not enclose a depression), its shallow occipital depression. The poisonous spines of the fish are dangerous to humans.

Distribution and habitat

''Parascorpaena picta'' occurs in the shallow and sheltered waters of rocky bays and reef systems in the eastern Indian and western Pacific region. The range extends to northern coasts and islands of Australia, from Exmouth in the west to Moreton Bay in Queensland. it occurs on coral and rocky reefs in shallow waters, it is also found in silty habitats in sheltered bays. This species can be found at depths of less than .

Biology

''Parascorpaena picta'' is a solitary species.

References

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q608165

picta The Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) is an inter-governmental organization that aims to enhance cooperation between countries and territories of Oceania, including formation of a trade bloc and regional peacekeeping operations. It was founded in 197 ...

Venomous fish Fish described in 1829 Taxa named by Georges Cuvier