Leaf scorpionfish

Taenianotus triacanthus

Fish
IUCN: Least concern

Usual depth2–30 m
Water temperature20–29 °C
Best monthsApril, May, and August
How commonOccasional

About this species

Taenianotus is a monotypic genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes. Its only species is Taenianotus triacanthus, the leaf scorpionfish, paperfish, paper scorpionfish, sailfin leaffish or threespine scorpionfish. This taxon has a wide Indo-Pacific distribution.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Taenianotus”, 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: 1 records
February: 8 records
March: 5 records
April: 16 records
May: 18 records
June: 14 records
July: 12 records
August: 15 records
September: 13 records
October: 14 records
November: 12 records
December: 11 records

Depth and water temperature

Depth

Mostly recorded at 2–30 m · Deepest record: 287 m

0–10 m: 32 records
10–20 m: 20 records
20–30 m: 15 records
30–40 m: 5 records
40–50 m: 0 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: 1 records
110+ m: 1 records

Water temperature

Recorded in surface water of 20–29 °C

20–22 °C: 2 records
22–24 °C: 13 records
24–26 °C: 23 records
26–28 °C: 13 records
28–30 °C: 21 records

Names and classification

English: Leaf scorpionfish, Leaffish, Leaffish, Leaf scorpionfish, leaf scorpionfish, Paper Fish, Paper Scorpionfish, Sailfin Leaffish, Swayfish, Three-spined Scorpionfish, Threespine scorpionfish

Names in 5 more languages

German: Schaukelfisch
Spanish: Pez Escorpión de Vela
French: Poisson Balance, Poisson-feuille, Poisson-scorpion feuille, Rascasse feuille, Rascasse-feuille
Japanese: Hadakahaokoze, ハダカハオコゼ
Simplified Chinese: 三棘帶鮋, 三棘高身鮋, 玫瑰絨鮋, 石狗公, 石頭魚

Other scientific names: Taenianothus triacanthus, Taenianotus citrinellus, Taeniatus triacanthus, Taenionotus triacanthus

Similar species

Lionfish
Pterois volitans
Spotted coral croucher
Caracanthus maculatus
Pygmy coral croucher
Caracanthus unipinna
Zebra turkeyfish
Dendrochirus zebra
Guam scorpionfish
Scorpaenodes guamensis
Mozambique scorpionfish
Parascorpaena mossambica

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).
569 open-data records from 1802 to 2024.

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