Zebra turkeyfish

Dendrochirus zebra

Fish
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth1–73 m
Water temperature20–30 °C
Best monthsApril, May, and June
How commonOccasional

Photo credit: (c) zsispeo, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) · CC BY-SA · iNaturalist

About this species

Dendrochirus zebra, known commonly as the zebra turkeyfish or zebra lionfish among other vernacular names, is a species of marine fish in the family Scorpaenidae.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Dendrochirus zebra”, 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: 188 records
February: 164 records
March: 235 records
April: 290 records
May: 305 records
June: 255 records
July: 244 records
August: 212 records
September: 246 records
October: 227 records
November: 206 records
December: 217 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 1–73 m · Deepest record: 96.5 m

0–10 m: 68 records
10–20 m: 10 records
20–30 m: 15 records
30–40 m: 5 records
40–50 m: 5 records
50–60 m: 24 records
60–70 m: 14 records
70–80 m: 11 records
80–90 m: 7 records
90–100 m: 2 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 20–30 °C

20–22 °C: 11 records
22–24 °C: 17 records
24–26 °C: 13 records
26–28 °C: 38 records
28–30 °C: 36 records

Photos

(c) Pauline Walsh Jacobson, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
no rights reserved · CC0 1.0 · iNaturalist
(c) 呂一起(Lyu yi-chi), some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Dan Schofield, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Gregor Bailar, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) Paolo Co, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist
(c) portioid, some rights reserved (CC BY) · CC BY · iNaturalist

Names and classification

English: Zebra turkeyfish, Butterfly Scorpionfish, dwarf lionfish, Fan Dancer, Many-spotted Butterfly-cod, Poisson Armée, Zebra Butterfly-cod, Zebra firefish, Zebra Lionfish, zebra turkeyfish

Names in 6 more languages

German: Zebra-Zwergfeuerfisch
Spanish: Pez León Mariposa
French: Poisson armée, Ptérois zèbre, Ptérois-zèbre, Rascasse zébrée
Japanese: Kirimmino, キリンミノ, キリンミノカサゴ
Thai: ปลาสิงโตม้าลาย
Simplified Chinese: 斑馬短鰭蓑鮋, 斑馬紋多臂簑鮋, 獅子魚, 獅子魚(短獅), 短獅, 紅虎, 花斑短鰭蓑鮋, 花斑短鳍蓑鮋, 雙斑短鰭蓑鮋, 雞公

Other scientific names: Brachirus zebra, Brachyrus zebra, Dendrochirus sausaulele, Pseudomonopterus zebra, Pterois zebra

Similar species

Lionfish
Pterois volitans
Guam scorpionfish
Scorpaenodes guamensis
Nemapterois biocellatus
Neochirus brachyptera
broadbarred firefish
Pteropterus antennatus
McAdam's scorpionfish
Parascorpaena mcadamsi

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).
999 open-data records from 1829 to 2021.
Species data updated October 26, 2026.

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