Scorpionfishes: Lionfishes & Much More for Marine Aquariums Diversity, Selection & Care New eBook on Amazon: Available here New Print Book on Create Space: Available here by Robert (Bob) Fenner

Lionfish taxonomy Dear crew: I have perused everything on this site that I can find, and Dr. Marini's articles on reefkeeper.com, and I remain baffled, hoping you can shed some light.  I'm trying to identify a fish by species, and having difficulty. I am sorry that I can't forward digital pictures, and am hoping that a gross physical description might be a purposeful place to start. <Not likely> A local fish store has a variant of dwarf lion that seems not to fit with what I can find in descriptions of species.  When asked, employees could only report that it had been taken in trade, and had been in the store for some time.  Anecdotally, one of them thought it might have originally come from Florida, though that could just as easily have been the locus of the collector/aquarist. When queried about the species, they generalized it to be a fuzzy dwarf. <There are many scorpaenoid fishes called "dwarf lions", not all are Pteroines...> The critter in question most generally seems to be brachypterus, but not quite.  The pectoral fins have the characteristic shape reminiscent of the sail on a Chinese junk, and are webbed almost to the end of the spines. Body shape [about 4"], coloration, and fin profile are generally consistent, but there are a few significant departures.  It lacks the "moustache" protuberances at the corners of the mouth, and has no noticeable "horns" above the eyes.  There are bumps of tissue along the lateral line, again consistent with brachypterus, but most noticeably there are no "flags" of tissue at the ends of the dorsal spines as both of my Fuzzies have.  Finally, while every fuzzy I have seen has blue eyes, the eyes of this fish have a bright orange outer circle, with a center that is a deep green/black [like a Tahitian black pearl]. My best guess is that it's actually a barberi.  Can you suggest any definitive characteristics that I can look for to identify it more definitively?  Am I overlooking the obvious, and can you tell me what I should have figured out on my own?   <Mmm, you might peruse the linked references for these species, genera on fishbase.org or make a trip to a large college library for a computer searched bibliography... There is variation in the Brachypterus mentioned... color and appendages-wise... Bob Fenner> Looking forward to your suggestions, Rick Walters

Scorpionfishes: Lionfishes & Much More for Marine Aquariums Diversity, Selection & Care New eBook on Amazon: Available here New Print Book on Create Space: Available here by Robert (Bob) Fenner