Smooth Prowfish
Aetapcus maculatus
- Usual depth4–10 m
- Water temperature14–23 °C
- Best monthsJuly and August
- How commonRare
Photo credit: (c) Josh Nitschke, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
About this species
The warty prowfish, also known as the smooth prowfish or Tasmanian prowfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, an Australian prowfish belonging to the subfamily Pataecinae, It is endemic to the coastal waters of southern Australia where it inhabits mostly rocky reefs. This species is the only member of the monotypic genus Aetapcus.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Warty prowfish”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article
Where and when
Where it has been recorded
Worldwide
Loading the map
Best months
Worldwide (open data)
- January: 22 records
- February: 23 records
- March: 15 records
- April: 12 records
- May: 5 records
- June: 25 records
- July: 106 records
- August: 74 records
- September: 29 records
- October: 27 records
- November: 45 records
- December: 25 records
Depth and water temperature
Depth
Mostly recorded at 4–10 m · Deepest record: 45 m
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 14–23 °C
Photos
(c) Josh Nitschke, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist 
(c) leonie_rennie, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Peter Crowcroft, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist 
(c) Bruce Deagle, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
Names and classification
- English
- Smooth Prowfish, Tasmanian Prowfish, Warty Prowfish
Other scientific names: Aetapcus vincenti, Pataecus maculatus, Pataecus vincenti, Pataecus vincentii
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).
- 160 open-data records from 1880 to 2007.
- Species data updated October 31, 2026.
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