Scorpaena calcarata
Smoothhead Scorpionfish
Collection Details
Specimens
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Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Scorpaeniformes (Lionfish, Stonefish and others)
Scorpaenidae (Scorpionfishes)
Scorpaena
Scorpaena calcarata (Smoothhead 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.
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Characters
Head and snout moderately short, eye moderate size. Teeth small, in narrow bands in jaws, palatine, and vomer. Preorbital bone with two free spinous points over maxilla. Suborbital ridge with two or three spinous points. Nasal, preocular, supraocular, postocular, frontal, anterior and posterior parietal, lower posttemporal, supracleithral, and pterotic spines present. Sphenotic bone with several closely located spinules. Preoperculum with 5 spines, first extending half distance to opercular flap. Gill rakers on first arch 4 or 5 on upper limb and 7 to 11 on lower limb. Slit behind fourth gill arch absent. Measurements (% SL): head length 40%–46%, snout length 9%–12%, orbit length 12%–16%, interorbital width 5%–6%, upper jaw length 19%–23%, body depth 32%–38%. Pectoral fin with 19 to 21 rays. Dorsal fin with 12 spines and 9 (rarely 7 or 8) rays. Anal fin with 3 spines and 5 rays. Scales cycloid, lateral line scales pored, 22 to 24+0–1. Vertebrae number 24, gas bladder absent.
Plain reddish, with three slightly darker patches along dorsal fin base on upper body, upper part of pectoral fin slightly pigmented, and ventral body pale.
Distribution
Western Atlantic from North Carolina to Brazil, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Greater and Lesser Antilles.
Found throughout the Gulf of Mexico, in the northern Gulf most common between 20 and 60 m.
Habitat Associations
Near shore to 91 m depth.
Biology
Mysid shrimps, mantas shrimps, penaeid shrimps, alphaeid shrimps, and portunid crabs.
Maximum known size is 125 mm SL.
Occurs from the shore (small individuals) to 90 m depth. Inhabits muddy bottoms (Ref. 26340). Anterolateral glandular groove with venom gland (Ref. 57406).
Reproductive mode: dioecism; fertilization: external; nonguarders (open water/substratum egg scatterers); parental care: none. Oviparous (Ref. 36715).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2012-08-22. Resilience: High (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
References
Longley and Hildebrand 1941
Eschmeyer 1965b
Eschmeyer 1969b
Hoese and Moore 1977
Hoese and Moore 1998
Castro-Aguirre and Márquez-Espinoza 1981
Robins and Ray 1986
Cervigón 1991
Boschung 1992
Schaldach et al. 1997
Smith 1997
Poss and Eschmeyer 2002
Scott, W.B. and M.G. Scott (1988) Atlantic fishes of Canada. Can. Bull. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 219:731 p.
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.
Moser, H.G. (1996) Scorpaenidae: scorpionfishes and rockfishes. p. 733-795. In H.G. Moser (ed.) The early stages of fishes in the California Current Region. California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI) Atlas No. 33. 1505 p.
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 Scorpaena calcarata