Twenty-five centimeters (10 in) of fish with a deliberately tattered outline - irregular clumps of skin rather than a neat fringe, so that nothing about the shape resolves into an animal.
Color is chosen rather than fixed. A raggy scorpionfish sitting on red sponge is red, one on coral rubble is gray-brown, and the change takes days rather than seconds. Individuals that move to a new patch of reef repaint themselves to it.
The hunting is the family's: hold still, wait, and strike anything small that comes within a body length, with a mouth that opens into a volume rather than a bite.
It is one of the species most often mistaken for a stonefish by divers, and the distinction matters less than people think - both are venomous, both are best left alone, and both are hot-water cases followed by a doctor. What actually matters is not putting a hand down without looking.
The genus. Scorpaenopsis Heckel 1837 - opsis (appearance). ETYFish
The species. Scorpaenopsis venosa (Cuvier 1829) - veined. ETYFish
- heavy scorpionfish with an unusually ragged, tattered outline
- skin flaps in irregular clumps rather than an even fringe
- color from deep red through brown to pale gray, matching the sponge or rock it sits on
- length up to 25 cm
