Description
Also known as Bearded Ghoulfish, Demon Goblinfish, Demon Rockfish, Demon Stinger, Demon Stinger Scorpionfish, Devilfish, Devil Scorpionfish, Devil Stinger, Devil Stinger Scorpionfish, Firefish, Goblinfish, Indian Walkman, Longsnout Stinger, Longsnout Stingerfish, Pop-eyed Sea Goblin, Red Sea Walkman, Sea Goblin, Spiny Devilfish, Stingfish.
Found singly, sometimes half buried, and blending in with silty mud and sand bottoms, over lagoons and seaward reefs. Walks rather than swims.
They feed on crustaceans and small fish.
Length - 25cm
Depth - 1-80m
Widespread Indo-West Pacific
Scorpionfish are masters of camouflage, enabling them to lie in wait for their victims to come close, before lunging forward and inhaling their prey with their large mouths.
When disturbed they raise the spines along their backs and will usually move off out of harms way, however, if cornered they are able to charge at considerable speed.
Highly dangerous and poisonous with venomous spines along its back if trodden on etc. Ref: https://www.fishbase.de/summary/5826
5 comments
got stung by one today - not pleasant at all, very lucky to be protected so not enough venom to do major damage plus high heat submersion applied within 5 minutes seems to have limited the damage!
Wesawoneonarecentdiveathairballtwoinlembehstraitsthatwasstalkingacoconutoctupus
saw one of these at the Gold Coast Seaway (Queensland, Australia) tonight, very brown colouration, 'walking' along the sand...cool!
you see what happens when nature gets drunk?
When on muck dives, bearded ghouls often pop out of nowhere. Dives should have long sticks and remind themselves to have a good distance from the bottom. Photographers should take caution as the cheek is exposed.