Cockatoo Fish

About this species

Ablabys taenianotus, or the cockatoo waspfish, is a small fish species that belongs to the scorpionfishes family Scorpaenidae.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Ablabys taenianotus”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article

Where and when

Where it has been recorded

Worldwide

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Best months

Worldwide (open data)

January: 15 records
February: 12 records
March: 22 records
April: 26 records
May: 41 records
June: 23 records
July: 26 records
August: 15 records
September: 25 records
October: 19 records
November: 19 records
December: 21 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 1–65 m · Deepest record: 284 m

0–10 m: 20 records
10–20 m: 3 records
20–30 m: 1 records
30–40 m: 0 records
40–50 m: 0 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 4 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 3 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 20–30 °C

20–22 °C: 9 records
22–24 °C: 4 records
24–26 °C: 9 records
26–28 °C: 10 records
28–30 °C: 31 records

Photos

(c) Silke Baron, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Silke Baron, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Jay Paroline, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Bart, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Pierre Pericard, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Pauline Walsh Jacobson, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Gregor Bailar, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Cockatoo Fish, Cockatoo leaf-fish, Cockatoo Leaf Fish, Cockatoo Waspfish, Leaf Fish, Roque fish, Rouge fish

Names in 5 more languages

German: Kakadu-Stirnflosser
French: Poisson-guêpe cacatoès
Japanese: Tsumajiro-okoze, Tsumajirookoze, ツマジロオコゼ
Thai: ปลากระตั้วใบไม้
Simplified Chinese: 獅子魚, 背帶帆鰭鮋, 背帶長絨鮋, 黑虎

Other scientific names: Ablabys taenionotus, Ambliapistus taenionotus, Amblyapistus slacksmithi, Amblyapistus taenianotus, Amblyapistus taenionotris, Amblyapistus taenionotus, Apistus taenianotus, Apistus taenionotus, Tetraroge alboguttata, Tetraroge cristagalli, Tetraroge taenionotus

Similar species

waspfish
Paracentropogon longispinis
Onespot Waspfish
Neocentropogon aeglefinus
Spotless Waspfish
Neocentropogon japonicus
Threespotted waspfish
Neocentropogon trimaculatus
Polka Dot Waspfish
Ocosia zaspilota
Whiteface waspfish
Richardsonichthys leucogaster

Sources and credits

Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).

Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
161 open-data records from 1829 to 2022.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.