Pterois russelii

Pterois russelii

Largetail turkeyfish, Plaintail firefish, Plaintail turkeyfish, Russell's firefish, Russell's lionfish, Spotless butterfly-cod, Spotless firefish

Kingdom
Phylum
Family
Genus
SPECIES
Pterois russelii
Length
30
12
cminch
cm inch 

Pterois russelii, the largetail turkeyfish, plaintail firefish, plaintail turkeyfish, Russell's firefish, Russell's lionfish, spotless butterfly-cod or the spotless firefish, is a species of ray-finned fish with venomous spines belonging to the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes and lionfishes. It is native to the Indo-Pacific Ocean from the eastern part of Africa to the Persian Gulf.

Appearance

Pterois russelii has 13 spines and between 10 and 12 soft rays in its dorsal fin and 3 spines and 7 or 8 soft rays in its anal fin. It has a whitish body striped vertically with reddish brown. This species has no rows of small dark spots on the soft dorsal, anal and caudal fins which are a feature of related species, and it has comparatively short dorsal-fin spines. The maximum published standard length of Russell's lionfish is 30 cm (12 in).

Distribution

Geography

Pterois russelii has a wide Indo-Pacific distribution from the coast of eastern Africa as far south as South Africa. It then occurs from Oman east to Japan and Australia. It has been recorded in the Red Sea but this was only confirmed in 2016. In Australian waters Russell's lionfish is found from the Exmouth Gulf in Western Australia around the northern tropical coasts to the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland. It occurs at depths of 15 to 60 m (49 to 197 ft), where it is found in areas of muddy substrate in shletered shallow estuaries, bays and coastal waters down to deeper waters in quiet offshore reefs.

Climate zones

Habits and Lifestyle

Pterois russelii is a solitary species which has venom bearing spines. It feeds on smaller fishes, crabs and shrimp.

Lifestyle

References

1. Pterois russelii Wikipedia article - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pterois_russelii
2. Pterois russelii on The IUCN Red List site - https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/50903260/54145434

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