Flasher Scorpion fish (Scorpaenopsis macrochir)
The Flasher Scorpionfish is also known as Flasher Stingfish, Flasher Devilfish and Flasher Goblinfish. These creatures are widely distributed throughout the Indo-Pacific waters. They reside on soft ocean floors, where it sometimes buries itself amongst rubble weed and rocks of coastal reefs and harbors. Typically, they can be found in water depths of 2 to 80 meters.
The Flasher Scorpionfish is highly dangerous and poisonous. They have venomous spines along their back that they raise when alarmed or threatened. Their spines are strictly for defense and not used to hunt down prey. However, if cornered, they are known to charge at high speeds.
The Flasher Scorpionfish reach lengths of about 5 inches. Their colorations consist of bright orange and yellow “flash colors” on the inner surfaces of its pectoral fins to ward off and confuse would be attackers. These bright colors also serve as a warning that this fish is venomous. They have relatively large eyes and short snout.
They are an ambush predator that will eat almost anything that will fit in it\’s mouth. In fact, they can swallow fish that are nearly as large as they are. Generally, they feed on marine fish and crustaceans. They lay in wait of prey to swim close by, slowly opening their mouth and a fraction of a second later, opening their gills. This creates a suction and pulls their victim into their mouth.
Information courtesy of whatsthatfish.com, wikipedia.org
Photo courtesy of livingreefs.com