Marbled Coral-cod

Parascorpaena picta

Fish
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth0–10 m
Water temperature20–29 °C
Best monthsOctober and November
How commonRare

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

About this species

Parascorpaena picta, the northern scorpionfish, painted scorpionfish or marbled rock cod is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes. This species is native to the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific Ocean. This species grows to a length of 16 centimetres (6.3 in) TL.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Parascorpaena picta”, 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: 4 records
February: 4 records
March: 5 records
April: 15 records
May: 16 records
June: 9 records
July: 11 records
August: 13 records
September: 15 records
October: 28 records
November: 32 records
December: 17 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 0–10 m · Deepest record: 89 m

0–10 m: 67 records
10–20 m: 4 records
20–30 m: 1 records
30–40 m: 0 records
40–50 m: 1 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 0 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 20–29 °C

20–22 °C: 1 records
22–24 °C: 7 records
24–26 °C: 34 records
26–28 °C: 48 records
28–30 °C: 100 records

Photos

Names and classification

English: Marbled Coral-cod, northern scorpionfish, Painted Scorpionfish, painted stingfish

Names in 1 more languages

Simplified Chinese: 圓鱗鮋, 獅甕, 石狗公, 紅雞仔, 花彩圓鱗鮋

Other scientific names: Prascorpaena picta, Scorpaena picta

Similar species

Mozambique scorpionfish
Parascorpaena mossambica
Byno Scorpionfish
Parascorpaena aurita
McAdam's scorpionfish
Parascorpaena mcadamsi
Lionfish
Pterois volitans
Spotted coral croucher
Caracanthus maculatus
Pygmy coral croucher
Caracanthus unipinna

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).
246 open-data records from 1829 to 2022.
Species data updated October 30, 2026.

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