Channeled rockfish

Setarches guentheri

Fish
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth268–569 m
Water temperature11–29 °C
Best monthsMarch and November
How commonOccasional

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

About this species

The channelled rockfish, commonly known as the deepwater scorpionfish, is a marine ray-finned fish belonging to the subfamily Setarchinae, which is a part of the family Scorpaenidae. This species is found in various tropical and subtropical oceans and has a wide distribution.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Channelled rockfish”, 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: 12 records
February: 24 records
March: 70 records
April: 15 records
May: 21 records
June: 34 records
July: 14 records
August: 23 records
September: 33 records
October: 24 records
November: 58 records
December: 21 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 268–569 m · Deepest record: 1,352 m

0–10 m: 1 records
10–20 m: 0 records
20–30 m: 1 records
30–40 m: 3 records
40–50 m: 0 records
50–60 m: 0 records
60–70 m: 1 records
70–80 m: 0 records
80–90 m: 0 records
90–100 m: 0 records
100–110 m: 0 records
110+ m: 309 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 11–29 °C

10–12 °C: 3 records
12–14 °C: 0 records
14–16 °C: 2 records
16–18 °C: 4 records
18–20 °C: 5 records
20–22 °C: 17 records
22–24 °C: 20 records
24–26 °C: 129 records
26–28 °C: 68 records
28–30 °C: 29 records

Names and classification

English: Channeled rockfish, Deepwater scorpionfish, channeled rockfish, Channeled rockfish, Deepwater scorpionfish, Deepsea Scorpionfish, deepwater scorpionfish

Names in 5 more languages

Spanish: Rascacio acanalado, Rascacio serrano, Rascasio serrano, raspacio cabezirecto
French: Rascasse serran, Rascasse silloné, Rascasse sillonnée
Japanese: Shirokasago, シロカサゴ
Thai: ปลาแมงป่องแดงทะเลลึก
Simplified Chinese: 囊頭鮋, 根室氏囊頭鮋, 石狗公, 石頭魚, 菲济岛囊头鲉, 赤鮋

Other scientific names: Bathysebastes albescens, Scorpaena remigera, Sebastes albescens, Setarches fidjiensis, Setarches guntheri, Setarches marleyi, Setarches parmatus, Setarches remiger, Starches guentheri

Similar species

Slender Scorpionfish
Lioscorpius longiceps
Lythrichthys longimanus

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).
1,566 open-data records from 1862 to 2025.
Species data updated October 30, 2026.

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