Parascorpaena aurita

Golden Scorpionfish
Parascorpaena aurita
Parascorpaena aurita, Ningaloo Reef, Australia, Photo: Rick Stuart-Smith
Parascorpaena aurita
Parascorpaena aurita, southern Coral Sea, Australia, Photo: Graham Edgar
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Parascorpaena aurita
Parascorpaena aurita

Distribution

Tropical Indo-Pacific


Description

Small, with proportionally large head and radiating stripes on the outer eye. P. picta and Sebastapistes strongia (Barchin Scorpionfish) also have stripes on the outer eye and are both very similar, but have slightly more rounded and shorter snouts. Difficult to identify in the field.


Information

Max Size: 5 cm

Sea Temperature Range: 20.2-30.4°C

Depth: 3-15m

Habitat Generalization Index: N/A

Also referred to as the SGI (Species Generalisation Index), this describes the habitat niche breadth of the species. Species with values less than 15 are found in a relatively narrow range of reef habitat types (specialists), while those over 25 may be found on most hard substrates within their range (generalists). Learn more here.


Conservation and Rarity

IUCN Status: Not Evaluated

Occurrence: Infrequent (2.6% of sites)

Occurrence describes how often the species is found on surveys within its distribution. It is calculated as the % of reef sites surveyed by RLS divers across all the ecoregions in which the species has been observed

Abundance: Solitary (1 per transect)

Abundance is calculated as the average number of individuals recorded per RLS transect, where present.


Edit by: Joe Shields