---
title: Red Sea Dwarf Lionfish (Neochirus hemprichi)
scientific_name: Neochirus hemprichi
common_name: Red Sea Dwarf Lionfish
taxon: Scorpionfishes
conservation_status: LC - Least Concern
published: 2023-12-31T10:43:59.880Z
updated: 2026-08-14T19:30:17.650Z
tags: Red Sea Dwarf Lionfish, Neochirus hemprichi, Scorpionfishes, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/scorpionfishes/red-sea-dwarf-lionfish
---

# Red Sea Dwarf Lionfish (*Neochirus hemprichi*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Scorpionfishes (*Scorpaenidae*)
- **Size:** up to 13 cm
- **Depth:** 1-30 m
- **Diet:** Carnivore
- **Activity:** Nocturnal
- **Rarity:** Uncommon
- **Habitat:** Coral and rubble, under ledges by day
- **Reproduction:** Broadcast spawner, Gonochoric
- **Hazard:** Dangerous, Venomous
- **Conservation status:** LC - Least Concern

## How to recognise it

- small lionfish with broad fan-shaped pectoral fins joined by membrane
- banded red-brown and white, fins with fine dark spotting
- much smaller and stockier than the common lionfish
- length up to 13 cm

A lionfish the size of a hand, with pectoral fins spread into fans that stay joined by membrane instead of separating into free rays. That single difference separates the dwarf lionfishes from the familiar big ones with the trailing plumes.

The fans are hunting equipment. It herds small fish and shrimps into a corner by spreading them like a net, closes the space, and takes the prey with a strike faster than the eye follows. Big lionfish do the same thing with their long rays; this one does it with a solid surface.

By day it stays under ledges and in crevices, upside down as often as not, and it comes out at dusk. Divers see it far less often than the common lionfish simply because it does not hover in the open.

Eighteen venomous spines - thirteen dorsal, three anal, two pelvic - each grooved, each backed by a gland. The venom is protein and comes apart in hot water at about 45 C (113 F), which is the first aid, followed by a doctor.

## Also known as

- **Russian:** Красноморская карликовая крылатка

## Scientific synonyms

- *Dendrochirus hemprichi* Matsunuma, Motomura & Bogorodsky, 2017

---

*Source: [Red Sea Creatures](https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/scorpionfishes/red-sea-dwarf-lionfish)*
*Updated: August 14, 2026*