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Scorpaenopsis possi

a scorpionfish

Multimedia & Additional Resources

Type	Description	Download
Image:	Adult	62KB
Image:	Adult - head detail Adult - head detail	66KB
Video:	on Rarotonga (© Karl Traylor)	380KB

General Information

COMMON NAMES: a scorpionfish

TRADITIONAL NAMES: No‘u (RR), Nou / Nou Piopio (PK)

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE ? - Cooks - ?

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Native, ?Endemic of ???; S.Group (RR, ?); N.Group (PK, ?); Marine, near-shore, outer-reef slope, to 40m

SIGNIFICANCE LIST: ; Poisonous spines - serious

KEY FEATURES: To 20cm.

SIMILAR SPECIES: Separated from diabolus and macrochir by upper opercular spine single (vs divided 2 or more)

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

Southern Group: Present Makatea:
RR	MG	AT	MK	MT	AK	PL	TK	MN
P

Northern Group: Present
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
			P

Key to Symbols

blank	no data
-	absent	L	localised
X	extinct 'naturally'	W	widespread
XQi	quarantine intercepted	R	recent
XQe	eradicated	?	query preceding category
P	present	T?	taxonomic query
S	seasonal	nn	present, said to have no name
O	occasional	?1	present, name not investigated
++++	very common	?2	presence not verified, no name recorded
+++	common	N/A	absent, name not expected
++	uncommon
+	rare
Cook Islands islands: RR =Rarotonga, MG = Mangaia, AT =‘Ātiu, MK=Ma‘uke, MT=Miti‘āro, AK=Aitutaki, PL=Palmerston, PN=Penrhyn, MN=Manuae, TK=Takūtea, TN=Tongareva (TS=Tongaleva Spoken, TW=Tongareva Written, they say "el" but write "r"), MH=Manihiki, RK=Rakahanga, PK=Pukapuka, NS=Nassau, SW=Suwarrow. After a Polynesian name: ^=orthography query. Countries and other: FIJ=Fiji, WT=Wallis & Futuna, SAM=Samoa, TON=Tonga, NIU=Niue, CK=Cook Islands, CKM=Cook Islands Māori, FP=French Polynesia, AUS=Australs, SOC=Societies, TAH=Tahiti, TUA=Tuamotus, MQS=Marquesas, MNG=Mangareva, PIT=Pitcain group, EAS=Easter Island, HAW=Hawai‘i, NZ=New Zealand, NZM=New Zealand Māori

Pests & Hosts

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Relationship	Hosts
Venomous - spines	Homo sapiens,

Scientific Taxonomy

Scorpaenopsis possi Randall and Eschmeyer, 2001
TAXONOMY: ANIMALIA; CHORDATA; GNATHOSTOMATA (Jawed Vertebrates); PISCES; OSTEICHTHYES; Scorpaeniformes; Scorpaenoidei; SCORPAENIDAE, Scorpaeninae

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Rarotonga: specimen BPBM 11154, 194 mm, off oil tanker buoy near harbor entrance, 20-30.5 m, rotenone, JE Randall and DB Cannoy, 11 March 1971; fieldphoto, Jack Stoffers, ID J.Randall. Pukapuka: fieldspecimen+photo, 2/2004, G.McCormack with ID as Scorpaenopsis possi.

References:
Special Reference: J E Randall and W N Eschmeyer (2001) Revision of the Indo-Pacific scorpionfish genus scorpaenopsis, with descriptions of eight new species. Indo-Pacific Fishes 2001, no 34.

Data Update History (information):
zTX, zB02, zM02, zD02

Web Resources

Citation Information

McCormack, Gerald (2007) Cook Islands Biodiversity Database, Version 2007.2. Cook Islands Natural Heritage Trust, Rarotonga. Online at http://cookislands.bishopmuseum.org.
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