Common Name: Mozambique Scorpionfish

Distribution: Uncommon in the Solitary Islands Marine Park. Distributed throughout the Indo-Pacific region, from East Africa to the Society Islands, north to the Izu Islands, south to Australia, throughout Micronesia. In Australia recorded from Shark Bay in Western Australia, across the north of the continent, the Coral Sea and Great Barrier Reef in Queensland south to northern New South Wales, and including Elizabeth Reef.

Ecological Notes: Frequents areas of mixed sand and rubble in reef flats, lagoons and channels. Depth to at least 18 m. 

Additional Notes: Adults overall brownish with strong mottling, well developed tentacle above the eye. Hides during the day, coming forth at night to feed. Fish in top image approximately 15 mm long, found under a piece of coral rubble. Fish in lower image approximately full grown. Specimens from the Pacific Ocean, currently regarded as this species, are likely to be P. armata (H. Motomura, unpubl. data) however Dr Hiroyuki Motomura, Australian Museum Research Associate, from Kagoshima University Museum, Japan has tentatively confirmed the identification of the fish pictured. Grows to 12 cm.

References: John E. Randall, Gerald R. Allen, Roger C. Steene, Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea, 2nd Edition, 1997. Published by Crawford House Publishing Pty Ltd. p.79.

FishBase. Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2018. World Wide Web electronic publication. https://fishbase.ca/summary/Parascorpaena-mossambica.html. Accessed 12/12/2018.

Atlas of Living Australia website at https://bie.ala.org.au/search?q=parascorpaena+mossambica. Accessed 12/12/2018.