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Pterois antennata

Tātarai‘au

Spotfin Lionfish

Multimedia & Additional Resources

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Image:	Adult	64KB
Image:	Adult, Rarotonga	44KB
Video:	on Rarotonga (© Karl Traylor)	372KB

General Information

COMMON NAMES: Spotfin Lionfish, Ragged-finned Firefish, Rough-scaled Turkeyfish, Ragged-finned Butterfly-Cod, Broadbarred Firefish; German Antennen-Feuerfisch; French Poisson-diable, Pterois à Antennes

TRADITIONAL NAMES: Tātarai‘au (RR MG AK), Tātaraiau (AT MK MH), Tātarāmoa (MT), No‘u (PL), Tāleilei Sau (TS), Tāreirei Sau (TW), Nohu-tiare (RK), Te Ika-a-Yāwau (PK NS); Other Polynesian - Tataraihau (TAH)

GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION: NATIVE e.Africa - Mangareva: n. to Japan; s. to NZ

COOK ISLANDS STATUS: Native; Common S.Group and N.Group. PLUS:; Marine, near-shore

SIGNIFICANCE LIST: ; Poisonous spines - serious

KEY FEATURES: To 20cm SL.

Cook Islands Distribution

View Distribution Map

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

Northern Group: Present
TN	MH	RK	PK	NS	SW
			P		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

Pterois antennata (Bloch, 1787)
SYNONYMS: Pteropterus antennata; Scorpaena antennata

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

Vouchers & References

Vouchers:
Rarotonga: specimens, ID Sims (Sims88). Mangaia: CAS66033 (DSM58). recorded as Pteropterus antennatus (Clerk81). Aitutaki: field-specimen, NBSAP School, 12/2000, ID GM. Palmerston: Photo78 (G&S85). Pukapuka: informant reports at NBSAP meeting, 2/2004. Suwarrow: seen N.Sims (Sims EIA99).

References:
text p.98 Myers (1991 2nd Ed.) Fishes of Micronesia
plate 23e Myers (1991 2nd Ed.) Fishes of Micronesia
p.79 Randall et al. (1990) Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef....
p.142 Burgess et al. (1988) Atlas of Marine Aquarium Fishes (TFH)
plate 20-01 Lieske & Myers (1996) Coral Reef Fishes
plate 19-03 Allen (1997) Marine Fishes of Tropical Australia....

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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