ID this Scorp

[AlexS95]

My guy has an orange-ish stomach.

 

[silentcivilian]

Yup, exactly. I need to count tail stripes too. But my guy is tiny compared to yours. He is only 2-3" tops. He eats live right now, working on the frozen. Keep me up to date. Would be neat to have the same fish.

 

[AlexS95]

Mines eating krill and whatever live gets away from the Leaf/Angler. I want to get him something bigger than krill, but smaller than silversides because those seem a little big for the guy, he downed like 5 krill tonight and could have kept going. As far as 'weaning', he didn't even notice the stick at first, but I just started rubbing him in the face with it until he got mad enough to bite it and he now realizes it's food. :dance:

<iframe width="420" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3Y4dsBm1Js4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Video from tonight.

And here is one of his side:

I know these aren't extremely different from the first set, but he didn't feel like turning . He just stares at me while I'm on my computer like "How could you put me in this box. I hate you" :fun5:

 

[MrTuskfish]

Looks like a devils scorp to me. Very nice find. Wish they had stuff like that by me

Sort of off the thread content; but I know what you mean. Many hobbyists, with special interests, find fish through divers and some LFS with good wholesale contacts for the unusual. There are lots of fish that you'll never find at a LFS or listed online. You never know though, sometimes a LFS will have a real "find". Although I haven't been in one in years.

 

[namxas]

Alex,

Does the fish have the white spots on the inner side of its pectorals? They should be right at the base.

 

[AlexS95]

It's hard to get a good angle to see them, but I'm pretty sure yes he does.

 

[silentcivilian]

This may be Namxas solving the ID problem. haha..

Here are 2 shots of my guy this evening.. no blues on, all LED flash light and camera phone.

You still think they are the same? My lfs swears its a scorpionfish... I was like really? I thought so too, what part of the world is he from, ohh.. im not sure, but ill give you good deal!

 

[jarrod13]

Those are definitely not the same species

Alex yours is tough to ID from those photos, I know it's difficult but it would be super helpful to get a glimpse of the inner pectorals

Silent, yours is one of three IMO, S. Diabolus, S. Macrochir, or S. Neglecta. Once again, the easiest way to be 100% positive is to check the inner pectorals. Is this the fish you had a thread about recently that was at your lfs?

I am certain these are not the same species.

 

[silentcivilian]

Inner pecs are redish and yellow in color with black spots, and a orange belly/chest.


By looking closer at both our fishes, I see some subtle differences.. like eyes are set differently, his fishes pec fins seem to ride higher up the body. Still, without some of the fish out there that are clearly different like the ghouls and goblins, scorps must be some of the trickiest to identify.

But with Alexs im still going with the pacific spotted scorp..

 

[jarrod13]

It's not necessary the colors but the actual pattern that identifies them. Most are red, yellow, orange, white, so that doesn't really tell much. Identifying scorps really isn't that hard, it's just almost necessary to see the inner pecs to be certain. This is even true with the inimicus (goblins) species, there are three that are ALMOST identical, with the biggest determining factor being the pectorals, much like your fish, the three I listed are very hard to tell apart especially when younger except for those pretty patterns they have.

Here's a pic I found on the Internet a while ago that helps me identify with these three species

As far as alex's, I know diver Tom and he only dives in the keys so unless this fish made a heck of a journey, it's not a pacific species. Or the extremely unlikely scenario that someone purchased it and released it over here, but I highly doubt it ;-)

 

[silentcivilian]

Thats the funny thing about the spotted..

The spotted scorpionfish is one of the largest and most common scorpionfishes in the Atlantic and Caribbean.
They can grow up to about 8 inches in length, and usually weigh about five pounds when adult, with the females being slightly larger than the males.

They are found in nearly all bodies of water, and can range from Bermuda to Massachusetts, and the northern Gulf of Mexico to southern Brazil.

 

[namxas]

There actually IS a "spotted/speckled scorp" (IIRC, that would be Sebastapistes coniorta) from the Pacific which is a native to the waters off HI, but it's a small fish FWIW. Common names just don't work very well when it comes to scorps.

 

[silentcivilian]

Ahh, right, I had to go back and check on the scientific name I found, but I think its a Scorpaena plumieri

 

[AlexS95]

I'll try to get the pictures of the pectoral tonight, but he doesn't always like to follow directions.

 

[silentcivilian]

I got mine tagged.. I still dont know what it means though...

 

[namxas]

SC,

Your newby doesn't seem like S. diabolus to me, as one key morphological trait seems to be missing, which is the pit at the front lower corner of the eye (at least I can't see it in your pix). Can you get a nice side view of the fish's head?

 

[AlexS95]

I got this:

I had to get him while he was perching, and he doesn't do that a lot.

 

[namxas]

I'm not thinking plumieri...take a look at the fins in this pic from fishbase:

S. plumieri

 

[namxas]

I'm not sure your fish is a plumieri...take a look at the fins in this pic from fishbase:

S. plumieri

I'm not seeing the white spots on a black/dark area in your pic. However, your pic is a bit TOO close, so it's tuff to really see much but spots. However, your fish does have the 3 black tailbars and the occipital pit near the corner of its eye...

 

[AlexS95]

The 'red-black' in that one is a little off, mine is more of a lighter shade, but it could just be the lighting in my tank vs on the ocean floor?
And is Frank ever going to post here? :hmm2: