About Scorpaena notata Rafinesque, 1810
This species, commonly called the small red scorpionfish, has a maximum body length of around 20 cm (8 in), while most fully grown adults measure roughly 15 cm (6 in) long. It has a broad head with a short snout and an upward-angled mouth. A short tentacle sits just above its eye, and its head is additionally decorated with various other shorter tentacles, spines, and flaps of skin. Its dorsal fin has twelve spines and nine soft rays, and its anal fin has two spines and six soft rays. Its large, oval pectoral fins have between seventeen and nineteen rays. It has around forty-four vertical rows of scales along its body, while its head, chest, and the bases of its pectoral fins have no scales. Its body is generally reddish-brown in color, with a large, semicircular dark pigmented spot located between the sixth and tenth dorsal spines. Its fins are spotted with brown, and its caudal fin has no vertical bars. The small red scorpionfish is native to the subtropical eastern Atlantic Ocean, the Mediterranean Sea, and the Black Sea. In the eastern Atlantic, its range extends south from the Bay of Biscay to Madeira, the Azores, the Canary Islands, and the northwestern coast of Africa as far south as Senegal. It can be found throughout the entire Mediterranean Sea, but is uncommon in the Adriatic Sea. In the Black Sea, it occurs as the subspecies Scorpaena notata afimbria. It is most often a littoral (shallow coastal) species, but can also be found in deeper water as far down as about 700 m (2,297 ft).
