The Life of Animals | Scorpion Fish | Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfish, are a family of mostly marine fish That includes many of the world's most Venomous species. In Addition to the name scorpionfish, informal names for family members include "firefish", "turkeyfish", "Dragonfish", and "stingfish", usually with adjectives added.
General characteristics of family members include a compressed body, ridges and / or spines on the head, one or two spines on the operculum, and three to five spines on the preopercle. The spines of the dorsal, anal, and pelvic fins all have venom glands at the bases Their Most species are bottom-dwellers feed on crustaceans That and smaller fish.
Most Scorpionfish, Such as the stonefish, wait in disguise for prey to pass them by before swallowing, while lionfish Often Ambush Their Prey. Stripers, grouper, bass, snook, Frogfish, toadfish, sculpin, etc., Also feed this way, but the scorpionfish, toadfish and sculpins are the only members of this group have That jaw teeth.
Fishes of the World recognizes 10 subfamilies with a total of 388 species, while (as of 2006) FishBase follows Eschmeyer and has 3 subfamilies, 25 genera, and 200 species, some of the species being removed to family Sebastidae the which other authorities do not follow .
