Red Scorpionfish of Mediterranean Sea on Violescent sea-whip

Red Scorpionfish of Mediterranean Sea, (Scorpaena scrofa), common name the red scorpionfish, bigscale scorpionfish, large-scaled scorpion fish or Rascasse is a venomous marine species of fidh in the family Scorpaenidae, the “scorpionfish”. This species is found in the Mediterranean Sea. It is also found in the Eastern Atlantic Ocean around the British Isles, where it is rare, south to Senegal, the Canary Islands, and Cape Verde. scorfano rosso red scorpionfish

It is the largest and most corpulent scorpionfish that lives in the Mediterranean Sea and can in fact reach 50 cm. in length and 4/5 kg. of weight, much sought after for the goodness of its meats and appreciated in the kitchen in many recipes. The body is particularly robust and the head, very evident, is covered with thorns.

The eye is slightly oval and smaller, proportionately, compared to the other scorpionfish. The fleshy appendages of the head are also less developed than that of the Scorpaena porcus, except on the chin, where they are numerous. The flakes are rather large and along the lateral line they can count from 35 to 40. The reddish brown color has spots with darker or lighter shades; it is very variable and depends on the various specimens, on the latitude at which it lives and from the seabed.

It has a great ability to blend in with the environment and this characteristic allows it to stand still, motionless waiting for some prey to come close to launch the attack and swallow it by opening its large mouth wide. In the middle of the dorsal fin, with spiny rays in the front, presents a clearly visible black spot. Must be very careful not to prick yourself with the spiny rays because they contain a poison, secreted by special glands, which although not fatal can cause serious problems if you do not intervene quickly to treat the wound. It lives in the mixed backdrops of rocks and algae in the middle of which it merges with its mimicry without ever detaching itself from the bottom. The red scorpionfish usually lives at depths between 20 and 200 meters; only the youngest specimens can be found in lower waters.

Its ideal habitat is the one found at the base of the deep cliffs or above the shallows that rise from the blue as we see in the video that I proposed to you where we even see it resting on a Paramuricea clavata, ready to launch the attack on its prey , and not at all afraid of the close presence of the diver.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorpaena_scrofa