---
title: Golden Scorpionfish (Parascorpaena aurita)
scientific_name: Parascorpaena aurita
common_name: Golden Scorpionfish
taxon: Scorpionfishes
conservation_status: LC - Least Concern
published: 2024-10-30T16:59:03.131Z
updated: 2026-08-13T23:38:44.998Z
tags: Golden Scorpionfish, Parascorpaena aurita, Scorpionfishes, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/scorpionfishes/golden-scorpionfish
---

# Golden Scorpionfish (*Parascorpaena aurita*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Scorpionfishes (*Scorpaenidae*)
- **Size:** up to 15 cm
- **Depth:** 3-20 m
- **Diet:** Carnivore
- **Activity:** Nocturnal
- **Rarity:** Uncommon
- **Habitat:** Shallow rock and rubble, often in surge
- **Reproduction:** Broadcast spawner, Gonochoric
- **Hazard:** Dangerous, Venomous
- **Conservation status:** LC - Least Concern

## How to recognise it

- small scorpionfish, golden to red-brown with fine dark mottling
- large fan-shaped pectoral fins spread flat against the bottom
- fringed skin flaps along the jaw
- length up to 15 cm

A small golden-brown scorpionfish pressed against rock in the shallows, usually in the surge zone where nobody looks for anything. Fifteen centimeters (6 in), and one of the most overlooked fish in this catalogue.

Its camouflage is textural rather than colored. Fringed flaps of skin along the jaw and over the eyes break the outline where a straight edge would give it away, and the wide pectoral fins are held flat against the rock so no shadow forms underneath. In surge it rocks with the water like a piece of weed.

It hunts by sitting still and swallowing whatever comes within a body length - small fish, shrimps, anything that fits. The strike is one of the fastest movements in any fish, and the fish moves nothing else while doing it.

The dorsal spines are venomous like the rest of the family's. It is small enough that a sting is unlikely to be serious, and it is still hot water at about 45 C (113 F) and a doctor if it happens.

## Also known as

- **English:** Golden Scorpionfish, Byno Scorpionfish
- **Czech:** ropušnice zlatavá
- **Japanese:** チブルネッタイフサカサゴ, Chiburunettaifusakasago
- **Chinese:** 金圓鱗鮋
- **Russian:** Золотистая параскорпена

## Scientific synonyms

- *Parascorpaena bynoensis* (Richardson, 1845)
- *Scorpaena aurita* Rüppell, 1838
- *Scorpaena bellicosa* Castelnau, 1875
- *Scorpaena burra* Richardson, 1842
- *Scorpaena bynoensis* Richardson, 1845
- *Scorpaena stokesii* Richardson, 1846
- *Sebastapistes bynoensis* (Richardson, 1845)

## Range

Indian Ocean, Mozambique, Red Sea, Seychelles

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*Source: [Red Sea Creatures](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/scorpionfishes/golden-scorpionfish)*
*Updated: August 13, 2026*