Pygmy coral croucher

Caracanthus unipinna

Fish
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth1–17 m
Water temperature23–30 °C
Best monthsFebruary, March, and November
How commonOccasional

Photo credit: (c) jeyre, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

About this species

Caracanthus, the coral crouchers, or orbicular velvetfishes, are a genus of ray-finned fishes. They live in coral reefs of the tropical Indo-Pacific. This genus is the only member of the monotypic subfamily Caracanthinae, part of the family Scorpaenidae.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Caracanthus”, 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: 26 records
February: 48 records
March: 54 records
April: 18 records
May: 23 records
June: 16 records
July: 29 records
August: 26 records
September: 22 records
October: 25 records
November: 52 records
December: 6 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 1–17 m · Deepest record: 125 m

0–10 m: 104 records
10–20 m: 33 records
20–30 m: 6 records
30–40 m: 0 records
40–50 m: 1 records
50–60 m: 1 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 23–30 °C

22–24 °C: 8 records
24–26 °C: 74 records
26–28 °C: 138 records
28–30 °C: 128 records

Photos

Names and classification

English: Pygmy coral croucher, Coral Croucher, Penny Velvetfish, Pigmy Coral Croucher, Pigmy Croucher, pygmy coral croucher

Names in 2 more languages

French: Poisson-velours nain
Japanese: Watagedangokoze, ワタゲダンゴオコゼ

Other scientific names: Caracanthus unipinnis, Caracanthus unipinnus, Centropus staurophorus, Micropus longipinnis, Micropus unipinna

Similar species

Spotted coral croucher
Caracanthus maculatus
Lionfish
Pterois volitans
Zebra turkeyfish
Dendrochirus zebra
Guam scorpionfish
Scorpaenodes guamensis
Bleeker's Lionfish
Ebosia bleekeri
Nemapterois biocellatus

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).
643 open-data records from 1831 to 2023.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.

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