Black scorpionfish

Brown scorpionfish ( Scorpaena porcus )

The brown dragon head ( Scorpaena porcus ) is a fish of the family Scorpaenidae ( Scorpaenidae ). He lives in the Mediterranean, the Black Sea and in the eastern Atlantic, from the British Isles to Senegal, as well as in the Canary Islands, the Azores and of Madeira.

Features

The brown dragon head has a stocky, slightly high-backed body. The camouflaged with numerous skin flap head and foot column are large, the eyes large and high- lying. There are large, split tentacles that are as long as the eye diameter above the eyes. On the chin he has, unlike many other scorpionfish no tentacles. The dorsal fin is long and has between the front and the rear hartstrahligen, soft-rayed part of an indentation. The color of the brown dragon head is usually brown or reddish brown, and more or less pied strong. In the rear part of the hartstrahligen part of the dorsal fin, a dark spot can occur between the 8th and 9th hard fin ray. The fish usually reach a length of 25 centimeters, maximum being 37 inches long.

Way of life

The brown dragon head lives solitary, especially in rocky, often veralgten habitats at depths of five to 800 meters, but also on sand and mud bottoms and in seagrass beds. It feeds mainly on crabs, other crustaceans and other invertebrates. Small fish such as blennies, wrasses and gobies make up only 24 % of its food. They spawn from July to September. The eggs measure 0.92 x 0.84 mm, the just hatched larvae have a length of 1.72 millimeters.