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Teleostei (teleosts) > Perciformes/Scorpaenoidei (Scorpionfishes) > Apistidae (Wasp scorpionfishes)
Etymology: Apistus: Greek, apisto = uncertain (Ref. 45335).
More on authors: Bloch & Schneider.

Issue
Genus Hypodytes, according to Paxton et al. 1989 (Ref. 7300).

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; demersal; depth range 14 - 60 m (Ref. 30573), usually 15 - 50 m (Ref. 4313). Deep-water

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Indo-West Pacific: Red Sea and the Persian Gulf south to Natal, South Africa and east to India and the Philippines, north to China and Japan, south Australia.

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: L_m ? range ? - ? cm
Max length : 20.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 48635); common length : 10.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 3503)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 14 - 16; Dorsal soft rays (total): 8 - 10; Anal spines: 3 - 4; Anal soft rays: 6 - 8. Bluish grey in color, belly pale; large black spot on rear half of spinous dorsal (Ref. 4313).

Inhabits soft bottoms of the continental shelf. Primarily known from trawls over prawn-grounds but divers looking in suitable habitats can come across them, especially at night. During the day it buries itself deep in the sand with just the eyes exposed. When disturbed, it spreads its long pectoral fins with the bright upper color to deter predators. It uses its fins to corner prey and has sensitive barbels below the mouth to detect those buried in the substrate (Ref. 48635). Fin spines venomous (anterolateral glandular groove with venom gland (Ref. 57406)) (Ref. 30573). Sold in small quantities either fresh or dried and salted in markets. Minimum depth reported taken from Ref. 57178.

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Poss, S.G. and K.V. Rama Rao, 1984. Scorpaenidae. In W. Fischer and G. Bianchi (eds.) FAO species identification sheets for fishery purposes. Western Indian Ocean (Fishing Area 51). Vol. 4. FAO, Rome. pag. var. (Ref. 3503)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-1)

Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 20 June 2017

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Venomous (Ref. 4716)

Human uses

Fisheries: minor commercial

FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

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Trophic ecology
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Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 23.3 - 29, mean 28 °C (based on 1680 cells).

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804): PD₅₀ = 1.1250 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].

Bayesian length-weight: a=0.01175 (0.00443 - 0.03114), b=3.02 (2.80 - 3.24), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this (Sub)family-body shape (Ref. 93245).

Trophic level (Ref. 69278): 3.6 ±0.4 se; based on size and trophs of closest relatives

Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153): Low vulnerability (10 of 100).

Price category (Ref. 80766): Unknown.

Apistus carinatus (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)