Dendrochirus brachypterus
No common name
Collection Details
Specimens
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Scorpaeniformes (Lionfish, Stonefish and others)
Scorpaenidae (Scorpionfishes)
Dendrochirus
Dendrochirus brachypterus
Description
This species account was compiled from
FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2025. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version 04/2025.)
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Characters
Body shape: fusiform / normal. Body reddish with vague broad bars; paired fins with bars; median fins with small dark spots (Ref. 4313). Mid-dorsal spines shorter than body depth (Ref. 37816).
Description: Characterized by variable colors: brownish, red or yellow overall; deeply incised membranes of spinous portion of dorsal fin; longest dorsal spine about 1.7 in body depth; enlarged and wing-like pectoral fins with rays fully connected by membranes except slightly incised between lower seven unbranched rays; depth of body 2.6 in SL (Ref. 90102).
Distribution
Indo-West Pacific: India and Sri Lanka eastward to Tonga; south to Australia; north to Japan.
Habitat Associations
Marine. reef-associated. depth range 2-80 m. Found in: estuaries, coral reefs, seagrass beds.
Biology
Common in reef flats and shallow lagoons, in areas with weed-covered rocks on sandy substrates. Adults often found on sponges and juveniles are sometimes found in small aggregations on remote bommies with 10 or so individuals (Ref. 48635). Nocturnal. Feeds on small crustaceans (Ref. 37816).
Max length: 17.0 cm TL.
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none. Distinct pairing (Ref. 205). Females possess specialized ovarian structures including stalk-like ovigerous lamellae and secretory epithelia (Ref. 32832).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2015-03-03. Resilience: Medium (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: subsistence fisheries; aquarium: commercial.
References
Breder, C.M. and D.E. Rosen (1966) Modes of reproduction in fishes. T.F.H. Publications, Neptune City, New Jersey. 941 p.
Myers, R.F. (1991) Micronesian reef fishes. Second Ed. Coral Graphics, Barrigada, Guam. 298 p.
Eschmeyer, W.N. (1986) Scorpaenidae. p. 463-478. In M.M. Smith and P.C. Heemstra (eds.) Smiths' sea fishes. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
Lieske, E. and R. Myers (1994) Collins Pocket Guide. Coral reef fishes. Indo-Pacific & Caribbean including the Red Sea. Haper Collins Publishers, 400 p.
Fishelson, L. (1997) Experiments and observations on food consumption, growth and starvation in Denrochirus brachypterus and Pterois volitans (Pteroinae, Scorpaenidae). Environ. Biol. Fishes 50(4):391-403.
Kulbicki, M., Y.-M. Bozec, P. Labrosse, Y. Letourneur, G. Mou-Tham and L. Wantiez (2005) Diet composition of carnivorous fishes from coral reef lagoons of New Caledonia. Aquat. Living Resour. 18:231-250.
Allen, G.R. and M.V. Erdmann (2012) Reef fishes of the East Indies. Perth, Australia: Universitiy of Hawai'i Press, Volumes I-III. Tropical Reef Research.
Patzner, R.A. (2008) Reproductive strategies of fish. pp. 311-350. In Rocha, M.J., A. Arukwe and B.G. Kapoor (eds). Fish reproduction: cytology, biology and ecology. Science Publisher, Inc. Oxford. 631 p.
Matsunuma, M., H. Motomura and S.V. Bogorodsky (2017) Review of Indo-Pacific dwarf lionfishes (Scorpaenidae: Pteroinae) in the Dendrochirus brachypterus complex, with description of a new species from the western Indian Ocean. Ichthyological Research 64(4):369-414. DOI: 10.1007/s10228-017-0583-6
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