New Scorpionfish

andywg · Dec 5, 2006

Well, I saw this guy at the weekend and decided last night that despite my initial thoughts, I do have room for him somewhere, so I sent nina out to pick him up.

The shop had him labelled up as a "Pop-Eye Sea Goblin" but in a surprise turn of events had a scientific name for him: Inimicus filamentosus. I am not so sure. As you will see below he has some pretty cool antler-like growths from just behind the eyes that are lacking in any pictures I have seen of I. filamentosus. The closest match I can find would be Pteroidichthys amboinensis. Any scorpion experts have any ideas?

And as I am posting, here's the new frog again:

chardonnay1000 · Dec 5, 2006

Wow cool fish..he looks like he would rip your arm off :lol:

Gnatfish · Dec 5, 2006

Now thats a cool fish! :good:

Whats it feed on? Does it take dead food?

Its face does look like an arse though lol

Nina · Dec 5, 2006

Apparently he is feeding on brine shrimp and river shrimp.

He has been tried on some frozen marine mix but as he had only be in the tank for about an hour, he was stil settling in and didn't appear that interested in it at the moment.

ox5477 · Dec 5, 2006

I agree that it looks like a Pteroidichthys amboinensis. I know nothing of these fish but I love how they look. Obv. a predator that sits in a algae covered rock crevace and waits for its prey to swim by and then snatches it. Would be cool to find a video of one of these guys in the wild.

EDIT: FYI: Looks like its a marine fish too so if your have him in fresh or brackish now then I would def start converting salinity in your tank to full marine ASAP. Don't know if you know this

Heres a cool viedo on google too: Cool!

It starts with your fav, the frog fish, shows alot of other cool fish, and ends with what you seem to have there; an Ambon Scorpionfish :good:

SandMan8388 · Dec 5, 2006

Wow, that movie just makes me wonder about all the species and animals we as humans have yet to discover. Great video, a lot of really unique species.

Andywg, is that new scorpion venomous?

-cAtFiSh- · Dec 5, 2006

So CUTE!!! :hyper:

2day · Dec 6, 2006

What a weird looking fish! I remember when i went to my local fish shop, i saw this rainbow looking fish, that had legs like a frog. I can't remember the name, but it was salt water. How weird can fish be! Nice style but

cane76 · Dec 6, 2006

very strange looking fish i like him :nod:

am i right in thinking it just sits there waiting for food to pass?does it swim around?

ox5477 · Dec 6, 2006

cane76 said:
very strange looking fish i like him
am i right in thinking it just sits there waiting for food to pass?does it swim around?

You can def tell from looking at it that its an ambush predator. Thats the reason for it looking like a peice of algae/plant covered rock. It prob waits in a crevice and at the sign of movement zips out and gobbles up a nice meal :good:

cane76 · Dec 6, 2006

it looks like it would have great camourflage in the right enviroment :nod:

andywg · Dec 6, 2006

ox5477 said:
cane76 said:

very strange looking fish i like him
am i right in thinking it just sits there waiting for food to pass?does it swim around?

Click to expand...

You can def tell from looking at it that its an ambush predator. Thats the reason for it looking like a peice of algae/plant covered rock. It prob waits in a crevice and at the sign of movement zips out and gobbles up a nice meal

While you are right in assuming this species just sits around and waits, it is not always that easy. Frogfish are masters of disguising themselves to look like their environment and even have lures to entice prey to them, yet are known to actively stalk and hunt down prey.