Species: Scorpaena guttata, Californian scorpionfish, Spotted scorpionfish

body & fins dense dark spots

Scorpaena guttata Girard, 1854
Californian scorpionfish, Spotted scorpionfish
Head large, depressed, spiny; nape concave; deep depressions before & behind eyes; ridge below eye normally without spines, but sometimes with 2-3 spines; teeth on sides and front of roof of mouth; no skin flaps on head or body; 15-19 gill rakers; dorsal XII, 9; pectoral 17-19 rays, upper rays branched, lower rays thickended, unbranched; anal III, 5; scales smooth, 24-26 on lateral line, 73-86 vertical rows on body.
Body, head and fins red-brown; body densely covered with dark brown and black spots; fins with large dark spots, those on dorsal fin in 2-3 rows.
Size: 47 cm.
Habitat: rocky, sandy and rubble bottoms.
Depth: 1-183 m.
California to lower Baja, with an isolated population in the northern Gulf of California.

High Resolution Map Download
- Salinity
-
- Marine
- Marine Only
- Inshore/Offshore
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- Inshore Only
- Inshore
- Water Column Position
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- Bottom only
- Bottom
- Habitat
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- Sand & gravel
- Rocks
- Reef and soft bottom
- Soft bottom (mud/sand/gravel/beach/estuary/mangrove/seagrass)
- Reef associated (reef + edges-water column & soft bottom)
- Reef (rock/coral/oyster)
- FishBase Habitat
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- Demersal
- Feeding Group
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- Carnivore
- No Data
- Diet
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- Octopus/squid/cuttlefish
- Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
- No Data
- Bony fishes
- Egg Type
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- Pelagic larva
- No data
- Pelagic
- Global Endemism
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- TEP non-endemic
- East Pacific endemic
- All species
- Regional Endemism
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- Temperate Eastern Pacific, primarily
- California province, primarily
- Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP) non-endemic
- Continent only
- All species
- Continent
- Residency
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- Resident
- Climate Zone
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- North Temperate (Californian Province &/or Northern Gulf of California)
- Northern Subtropical (Cortez Province + Sinaloan Gap)
- IUCN Red List
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- Data deficient
- Listed
- CITES
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- Not listed
- Length Max
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- 47
- Depth Range Min
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- 1
- Depth Range Max
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- 183