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Dendrochirus zebra

Tātarai‘au

Zebra Lionfish

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General Information

COMMON NAMES: Zebra Lionfish, Zebra Turkeyfish; French Poisson-zèbre, Poisson-diable

TRADITIONAL NAMES: Tātarai‘au (RR MG), Tātaraiau (AT MK), Tātarāmoa (MT), Tāleilei Sau (TS), Tāreirei Sau (TW)

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE e.Africa - Cooks

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Native; Marine, near-shore

SIGNIFICANCE LIST: ; Poisonous spines - serious

Cook Islands Distribution

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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

Dendrochirus zebra (Cuvier, 1829)
SYNONYMS: Pterois zebra

TAXONOMY: ANIMALIA; CHORDATA; GNATHOSTOMATA (Jawed Vertebrates); PISCES; OSTEICHTHYES; Scorpaeniformes; Scorpaenoidei; SCORPAENIDAE, Pteroinae

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Manihiki: 1 specimen #A958 as D. zebra (B&M74), but Sims88 reinterprets as D. ?sausaulele with no explanation.

References:
text p.98 Myers (1991 2nd Ed.) Fishes of Micronesia
plate 23d Myers (1991 2nd Ed.) Fishes of Micronesia
p.78 Randall et al. (1990) Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef....
p.143 Burgess et al. (1988) Atlas of Marine Aquarium Fishes (TFH)
plate 20-07 Lieske & Myers (1996) Coral Reef Fishes
plate 19-02 Allen (1997) Marine Fishes of Tropical Australia....
Species No. 1001 Munro (1967) Fishes of New Guinea

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

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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