Animalia Life

Apistus carinatus
FAMILY
Apistidae
TAXONOMY
Apistus carinatus Bloch and Schneider, 1801, Tranquebar, India.
OTHER COMMON NAMES
English: Bearded waspfish; French: Rascasse ocellйe; Spanish: Rascacio ocelado; Japanese: Hachi.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS
Reaches 6.7 in (17 cm) maximum length. An orange, bronze, or gray scorpionfish, with greatly expanded pectoral fins and free pectoral rays, similar to those seen in sea robins and stingfishes. Becomes increasingly white ventrally, with a characteristic ocellated black spot on the posterior half of the spinous dorsal fin.
DISTRIBUTION
Widely distributed species found throughout the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific. They range from South Africa north to the Red Sea and Persian Gulf in the western Indian Ocean and from China and Japan south to Australia in the Pacific.
HABITAT
Typically collected on the continental shelf on muddy or sandy bottoms at depths ranging from 66–197 ft (20–60 m).
BEHAVIOR
The ocellated waspfish, like sea robins and stingfishes, moves slowly over the seafloor, searching through the soft bottom with its free pectoral rays. It is highly venomous.
FEEDING ECOLOGY AND DIET
Like most scorpionfishes, the ocellated waspfish feeds primarily on crustaceans and fishes; it is preyed upon by humans.
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
Little is known about the
REPRODUCTIVE BIOLOGY
of the ocellated waspfish.
CONSERVATION STATUS
Not listed by the IUCN.
SIGNIFICANCE TO HUMANS
The ocellated waspfish is a commercially important food fish that is collected by trawls and seines in small quantities. This fish is sold in markets either fresh or dried and salted.

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