Pontinus rathbuni
Highfin Scorpionfish
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
There are no photos available for this taxon yet.
Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Scorpaeniformes (Lionfish, Stonefish and others)
Scorpaenidae (Scorpionfishes)
Pontinus
Pontinus rathbuni (Highfin Scorpionfish)
Description
This species account was compiled from
Composite (multiple sources) (McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm. Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. University of Texas Press, Austin.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
It may contain errors in spelling, punctuation, or formatting.
When citing, please reference the original source rather than this page.
Learn more about our species accounts.
Characters
Head and body shape: spiny head, short snout, relatively flat occiput; Dentition: small teeth in narrow bands in jaws, palatine, and vomer; Spines: preorbital bone with two spinous points, suborbital ridge usually with four spinous points, various spines present (nasal, preocular, supraocular, postocular, tympanic, parietal, nuchal, pterotic, sphenotic, lower posttemporal, supracleithral, and cleithral); Preoperculum with 4 or 5 spines; Measurements (% SL): head length 42%–48%, snout length 11%–14%, orbit length 11%–15%, interorbital width 3%–5%, jaw length 19%–23%, body depth 30%–38%; Gill rakers: six or seven on upper limb and eight or nine on lower limb; Fin formulae: pectoral fin with 17 unbranched rays, dorsal fin with 12 spines and 9 rays, anal fin with 3 spines and 5 rays; Scales: ctenoid, on body, cheek, postorbital region, and occiput; Vertebrae: 24; Gas bladder: present
Orangish red; upper section of body below dorsal fin with four saddles of dusky pigment; dusky smudges on lateral line scales, axil of pectoral fin, head, supraorbital tentacle, pectoral fin, anal fin, and caudal fin; smudges may be orange or red in life
Distribution
Western Atlantic from Virginia to Suriname, including the northern Gulf of Mexico
Northern Gulf of Mexico (more common in the northeastern than in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico)
Habitat Associations
Depth range: 73-366 m
Biology
Maximum known size: 197 mm SL
Have a thick glandular tissue on posterior margin of fin spines which is believed to be venomous (Ref. 57406).
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2012-08-20. Resilience: Medium (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
References
Eschmeyer 1969b
Uyeno and Sato 1983b
Robins and Ray 1986
Boschung 1992
Poss and Eschmeyer 2002
Robins, C.R. and G.C. Ray (1986) A field guide to Atlantic coast fishes of North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, U.S.A. 354 p.
Uyeno, T., K. Matsuura and E. Fujii (eds.) (1983) Fishes trawled off Suriname and French Guiana. Japan Marine Fishery Resource Research Center, Tokyo, Japan. 519 p.
Frota, L.O., P.A.S. Costa and A.C. Braga (2004) Length-weight relationships of marine fishes from the central Brazilian coast. Naga, WorldFish Center Q. 27(1-2):20-26.
Bogutskaya, N.G. (2007) Preliminary assignment of coordinates to type localities in the Catalog of Fishes. Unpublished dbf file.
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.
Comments On Pontinus rathbuni