---
title: Reef Stonefish (Synanceia verrucosa)
scientific_name: Synanceia verrucosa
common_name: Reef Stonefish
taxon: Stonefishes
conservation_status: LC - Least Concern
published: 2023-12-31T09:30:27.590Z
updated: 2026-08-13T09:40:02.383Z
tags: Reef Stonefish, Synanceia verrucosa, Stonefishes, Red Sea, Marine Life, Diving
url: https://redseacreatures.com/taxon/fishes/bony-fishes/stonefishes/reef-stonefish
---

# Reef Stonefish (*Synanceia verrucosa*)

## Quick facts

- **Group:** Stonefishes (*Synanceiinae*)
- **Size:** 40 cm
- **Depth:** 1-45 m
- **Diet:** Carnivore
- **Activity:** Nocturnal
- **Rarity:** Uncommon
- **Habitat:** Rubble, sand and reef flats, half-buried and crusted with algae
- **Reproduction:** Egg layer, Gonochoric
- **Hazard:** Dangerous, Venomous
- **Conservation status:** LC - Least Concern

## How to recognise it

- looks like an algae-crusted lump of rock, not a fish
- eyes set high on the head, mouth vertical
- 13 stout dorsal spines that rise when the fish is disturbed
- half-buried in rubble, does not flee when approached

A lump of rock with a mouth. Up to 40 cm (16 in) of warty, algae-crusted, mottled brown fish that sits half-buried on rubble and does not move when approached, because moving is not its plan. The eyes are set high, the mouth is vertical, and the outline is genuinely impossible to resolve until the fish is already known to be there.

Thirteen spines stand along its back, each with a pair of venom glands at the base and a groove running up the shaft. They lie flat and rise when the fish is disturbed. Weight from above - a foot, a hand, a knee - compresses the glands and drives venom up the spine under pressure, which is why every serious case is a stepped-on fish rather than an aggressive one. The pain is described as the worst known from any marine animal, and severe stings can kill.

The main component is verrucotoxin, and knowing what it is explains the first aid. Unlike the small stable poisons of puffers and cone snails it is a large protein, and proteins come apart when heated: immersing the limb in water as hot as the patient can stand without scalding, around 45 C (113 F), for 30 to 90 minutes breaks the toxin down and cuts the pain dramatically. Then hospital, because antivenom exists and the wound needs cleaning. Worth knowing before the dive rather than after.

It hunts by not moving at all. Small fish and shrimp come within range, and the strike takes about fifteen milliseconds - among the fastest movements measured in any fish. The mouth opens, the volume of the head triples, and the prey is pulled in by the inrush of water before it has registered anything.

## Also known as

- **English:** stonefish, Reef Stonefish
- **Arabic:** Abu al-Laban
- **Hebrew:** אבנון מגושם
- **French:** Poisson-pierre commun, Crapaud, Poisson-pierre
- **Italian:** Pesce pietra del reef, Pesce pietra verrucoso, Pesce pietra
- **German:** Echter Steinfisch, Steinfisch
- **Spanish:** Pez Piedra Común
- **Portuguese:** Peixe-pedra-dos-recifes
- **Dutch:** Echte Steenvis
- **Polish:** Szkaradnica
- **Czech:** odranec pravý
- **Japanese:** オニダルマオコゼ, Onidarumaokoze
- **Chinese:** 合笑, 拗豬頭, 沙薑鱠仔
- **Russian:** Океанская бородавчатка (рыба-камень)
- **DA:** Stenfisk
- **SL:** veščec
- **TAH:** nohu
- **TH:** ปลาหิน

## Scientific synonyms

- *Scorpaena brachion* Lacepède, 1801
- *Synaceia verrucosa* Bloch & Schneider, 1801
- *Synanceia brachio* Cuvier, 1829
- *Synanceia thersites* Seale, 1901
- *Synanceichthys verrucosa* (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
- *Synanceichthys verrucosus* (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)
- *Synanceja verrucosa* Bloch & Schneider, 1801
- *Synancejia verrucosa* Bloch & Schneider, 1801
- *Synancia verrucosa* Bloch & Schneider, 1801

## Range

Djibouti, Eritrea, Federal Republic of Somalia, Indian Ocean, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Red Sea, Republic of Mauritius, Seychelles, South Africa, Tanzania

---

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