Species of Thailand
Tassled scorpionfish
Binomial name: Scorpaenopsis oxycephala, Pieter Bleeker, 1849
The tasseled scorpionfish, or Small-scaled scorpionfish, Scorpaenopsis oxycephala, is a carnivorous ray-finned fish with venomous spines that lives in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It can reach a maximum length of 36 cm and can vary considerably in color. Adults are bearded with a number of tassels below the jaw.
They inhabit reef slopes from only 1 to 35 meters. When in shallow waters, swimmers may accidentally tread on them which may cause painful injury from the venomous spines.
This article uses material from Wikipedia released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike Licence 3.0. Eventual photos shown in this page may or may not be from Wikipedia, please see the license details for photos in photo by-lines.
Scientific classification
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Actinopterygii
- Order
- Scorpaeniformes
- Family
- Scorpaenidae
- Genus
- Scorpaenopsis
- Species
- Scorpaenopsis oxycephala
Tassled scorpionfish at Manta Alley
Tassled scorpionfish at Shaab Claudia
Tassled scorpionfish at Nusa Kode
Range map of Scorpaenopsis oxycephala in Thailand
Important note; our range maps are based on limited data we have collected. The data is not necessarily accurate or complete.
Special thanks to Ton Smits, Parinya Pawangkhanant, Ian Dugdale and many others for their contribution for range data.
Contribute or get help with ID
Please help us improving our species range maps. To add a new location to the range map we need a clear image of the specimen you have encountered. No problem if you do not know the species, we will do our best to identify it for you.
For the location, please provide the district name or the national park/ wildlife sanctuary name.
Please post your images to our Thai Species Identification Help group on Facebook.