Postcard from the Reef – Scorpion

I have found these fish in the daytime, usually deep inside a cauliflower coral and nearly impossible to photograph. By night they emerge to hunt. As with most scorpionfish, they are ambush hunters, sitting on the bottom and waiting for some hapless critter to come too close. Of course the habit of sitting still makes them ideal targets for a camera, they hold their ground even when the strobe goes off.

Cheekspot Scorpionfish
A cheekspot scorpionfish (Scorpaenodes littoralis) near the shore in 4′ of water, Mahukona