Oder Scorpaeniformes Family Scorpaenidae(Scorpionfishes or rockfishes) Spotfin lionfish Pterois antennata(Bloch, 1787). 20cm TL Korean name/gin-su-yeom-ssol-be-gam-peng(긴수염쏠배감펭) Japanese name /ネッタイミナカサゴ(Nettai-minokasago) Chinese name/触角蓑鲉 D/spine 13, soft ray 11-12, A/spine 3, soft ray 6. P1/soft ray 16-18. P2/spine1, soft ray 5. Caudal fin/soft ray 13. Gill raker(새파)/14-16. Branchiostegal(새조골)/7. LLS(측선비늘수)/24-26. Vert(척추골)/24.
Distribution; Indo-Pacific/Jeju Island of Korea, Southern Japan, Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Ogasawara Is. Philippines, Borneo, Viet Nam, Guam, Palau, Micronesia, Andaman Is. Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Australia, Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, American Samoa, Tonga, French Polynesia, Oman, Northern Red Sea, Madagascar, Seychelles, Mozambique, South Africa. General; ※ The English meaning of the Korean name is Long-whiskered Scorpionfish. However, this species has very short whisker, seems to have been an error in the Korean naming. So, personally, I do not recognize it as valid name. I will refer it mainly by the Korean version(스폿핀쏠배감펭) of the English name. The English name, Spotfin lionfish, refers to the characteristic round dots on the pectoral fin membrane.
The body is oval, head and trunk are compressed. A pair of long projections above the eye, more than twice the diameter of the eye. This appendage is expressed as antenna(antennata) in species’ scientific name. The space between eyes is concave. The posterior end of the upper jaw almost reaches the center of the eye. With teeth on both jaws and the vomer, but none on the palatine bone. The entire body except the front part of the head is covered with ctenoid scales. The anterior ends of the upper and lower jaws terminate equal in length. Small whisker-like projections between the nose and the upper jaw. Leaf-shaped cortical projections behind the upper jaw and on lower side of the presphenoid bone. The lateral line is complete and shifted dorsally.
The origin of dorsal fin is well ahead of posterior end of the gill cover margin. The last two dorsal fin spines are almost equal in length and short. Except for the last three spines, the dorsal fin spines are with placard-like membrane along their entire height. However, the membranes are separated from the adjacent spines and are connected only at the lower base. The margin of the soft dorsal fin is rounded. The origin of the soft dorsal fin is in front of the origin of the anal fin origin. The pectoral fin located slightly below the transverse axis of the central body. The pectoral fin rays are very long, reaching the base of the caudal fin, but the fin membranes are limited to about half the length of the rays, so the rays of posterior pectoral fin are each a long, isolated, thin, thread shapes. The pectoral fin rays are all not-branched soft rays. The pelvic fin starts slightly in front of the pectoral fin origin and ends well past the anal fin origin. The back of the caudal fin is rounded.
The lower part of the head is white and head with several radial red bands centered around the eye. One of them passes through the eye and goes down obliquely, then breaks off briefly at the bottom of the gill cover and ends in a large dot shape. From posterior head to caudal end, about 16 bright red and dark red vertical bands alternate and narrow white lines in between forms a clear boundary between them.
The long protrusion above eye is with several dark red dots. The dorsal fin spines have dark red spots arranged at regular intervals; the short ones have about 2~3 spots, and the long ones have about 9 spots. The membranes of soft ray part of dorsal fin, caudal fin and anal fin are transparent, and each ray has about 10 dark reddish spots arranged at regular intervals. The pectoral fin membrane is white to pale grayish-reddish-white with large black round dots on the membrane.
The spines on the dorsal fin are poisonous and cause severe pain when pricked. They are found in lagoon areas and offshore reef areas. During the day, they stay under the shade of coral reef rocks or in crevices, and at night, they come out to hunt shrimp and crabs. When they are in a narrow crevice, they turn their heads outward so that they can quickly escape. They live alone or in groups.
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