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Scorpion fish identification: stonefish vs devil vs scorpionfish

26/1/2021

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How to differentiate stonefish from its more common cousins: the Bearded Scorpionfish and Devil Scorpionfish

What are the 3 species of Scorpionfish that you must absolutely differentiate?
This article is going to teach you how to differentiate the 3 most common species of  Scorpionfish we encounter in the Andaman sea: Bearded Scorpionfish, Devil Scorpionfish and Stonefish.

These three species are often mistaken because they are quite similar (indeed they belong to the same family), but below are some simple tips to tell them appart during your next dive trip.

Let’s start with their similarities:
- these members of the Scorpaenidae family live on to the ocean floor, often hiding among the coral reef and swim about as well as a chicken can fly...
- They have large heads with strong bony cheek and a surprisingly wide mouth which can capture large preys.
- They are not aggressive but their back spines are highly poisonous. They are not agressive but under attack, they expand their spines to protect themselves and quickly escape to a nearby hideout. 
- They are all sedentary prey-stalkers using the same passive strategy as a gecko. You will rarely see them moving something other than their eyes except when they are swallowing whole a prey that passed a bit too close...
how to differentiate the 3 subfamilies of Scorpionfish
How to differentiate the 3 subfamilies of Scorpionfish ?

Now let's have a look at their differences:

Bearded Scorpionfish
Tassled or Bearded Scorpionfish
The most common Scorpionfish in the Andaman sea is the Tassled Scorpionfish (Scorpaenopsis oxycephala).

Also called bearded scopionfish because of the fleshy outgrowths under their chin, their color usually matches its surrounding quite well and they will sit on rocks of brown or reddish brown color.

Its body can reach a length of 36 cm and has a long recognisable fish shape.
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Picture
Devil Scorpionfish
Devil Scorpionfish
A little rarer and a little more stone looking: the Devil Scorpionfish.    (Scorpaenopsis diabolus)

Also called false Stonefish because of its resembling appearance of a stone, you can differentiate it from other scorpionfish by the presence of a bump on the back of its head. Its skin looks as rough as sand paper. The inner sides of their pectoral fins have orange, black, and white blotches can be "flashed" as a warning to inquisitive predators.
Picture
Picture
Stonefish
Stonefish
Lastly, lets talk about the Stonefish:

While the other scorpionfish can be seen on pretty much every dive in Myanmar and Thailand... Stone fish are a bit more of a treat.

They are both rarer and a lot harder to spot then their cousins.

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Stonefish count themselves among the Synanceja subfamily and are usually quite large, measuring between 30 and 40 cm.
​
Round shaped, they look like a stone covered in sand, with a leathery looking skin that can be brown/grey, yellow, white, pink or even purple. 
Their skin is usually covered in sponge or algae like their surrounding which make them close to invisible...

Scorpionfish’s eyes protrude a little from their head, whereas Stonefish’s are quite difficult to distinguish, recessed, combined with a down-turned grumpy mouth.

Stonefish's spines are thicker, and its back fins are bigger than Scorpionfish’s (but also usually well hidden along their body).  Another physical detail can be that its tail is more curled at the end, whereas the Scorpionfish’s is straight.


Stonefish is the world’s most venomous fish in the world, and one more good reason to always be careful where you put your hands while diving. Never touch anything is the safest rule!
Rhinopia
Rhinopia
Other pretty member of the scorpionfish family are the Lionfish and the Rhinopia, but these ones are hard to mix with the others.
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lionfish

Infografics: scorpionfishes identification

A little infographic to help you differentiate visually the 3 species
differentiate visually the 3 species of scorpionfish
 That’s it for today, let’s hope that you learned how to differentiate these 3 species and that you will observe them in our company on The Smiling Seahorse’s boat!

Marine life in the Andaman Sea is very rich, check out this page if you want to learn some more about the fantastic marine life we see in Thailand. 
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Good bye 2020, hello 2021!

8/1/2021

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Happy new year 2021 from The Smiling Seahorse crew!

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We just returned from our first cruise into 2021 and must say the beautiful islands in Surin and Similan National Parks in Thailand delivered.
We were delighted to welcome back some familiar faces onboard! Nicola, we discovered The Smiling Seahorse last week couldn’t say goodbye and we were very happy to welcome her for a second week. We also welcomed back Jeff, Hiroshi and Dario who met onboard last year as well as our once Dive Master trainee: Kostas back for another cruise.
Thank you so much for your continuous support during good and bad years!
Happy new year 2021 from The Smiling Seahorse crew!
juvenile batfish at surin
The highlights of the Surin islands this week were an enormous turtle cruising by as we searched out tiny cute pikachu nudibranchs (thecacera pacifica), eerie ghost pipefish, lobsters, vibrant peacock mantis shrimp and ornate tapestry shrimp. The variety of life and giant schools of fish kicked the trip off brilliantly. 
peacok mantis shrimp in Surin
Hawkbil turtle in Surin islands
​Our second day was filled with some of our favorite locations in Similan as we explored Ko Tachai, Ko Bon, West of Eden and Deep Six. The bright soft fan corals and giant foam corals painted a beautiful underwater landscape as we floated through massive schools of fish in excellent visibility. Nudibranchs were everywhere, including some of our favorite slugs: psychedelic batwing slug (sagaminopteron psychedelicum) and piccachu (Thecacera pacifica)! 
Barrel sponge and coral reef in thailand
piccachu nudibranch surin national park
beautiful purple nudibranch in Similan islands
​ The most exciting sighting of our trip happened at Shark Fin Reef : Not only did we see some white tip reef sharks sleeping under coral heads, but we also had a tiger shark saying hello at the safety stop!! Safety stops can really get thrilling with such a special guest visitor! Again no photo of this special guest who tend to show up only in front of divers when they don't have their camera!
white tip reef shark thailand
Tuna Wreck at Anita’s Reef sent us into our deepest dive as we descended to catch a glipse of the unique ship tipped on its side at the bottom of the sea at around 30 meters.

​We also experienced a fun filled dive at Elephant Head Rock, which led us through underwater boulders and swim throughs. We found more white tips reef sharks swimming and the trip of black, yellow, and blue ribbon eels poking out to say hello. Between dives we made a stop at Donald Duck Bay to enjoy the iconic rock formations and pristine white sand beach. 
similan national park beach group photo
​The journey back north toward Surin National Park held four more days of amazing sea life. We found bright tiger cowries latched on to fan corals, crabs nestled around their eggs, and nudibranchs galore! 
crab with eggs
nudi in thailand
tiger egg cowrie photo in Similans national park dive site
​Ko Tachai was so fishy this week and we spent most of a dive in a swirling school of thousands of chevron barracuda covering the reff between 10-20 meters deep. The big fish kept coming through in massive schools of giant trevallies, bluefins trevallies, jackfish as well as 10 huge tunas passing on top of us! Wow!
barracudas tachai thailand
​We glided through schools of batfish, surgeon fish, rabbitfish and jackfish at Richelieu Rock. We found two giant frog fish this week, a bent stick pipe fish, seahorse and some ghost pipe fish. But what I loved most was an eagle ray passing less than a meter away on our night dive there!
schooling jack in tachai pinnacle
​We celebrated not only these beautiful sites but also a new year’s arrival! As we were moored in the Bay of Ko Bon, we enjoyed our infamous barbecue night and were gifted with the lovely voice of one of our passenger: an opera singer to start the year in beauty. It made the new year truly special for everyone and after a bit of dancing, singing and laughing we made it to bed awaiting for our dives on the 1st!
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Our new year began with another amazing trip through our favorite Thai islands, and we are so grateful for our new and returning friends who joined us.

Thanks to Andrew for sharing your photos of the trip! And a special congratulations goes out to Martina and Fabian for completing their Nitrox certification course!

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6 days/5night, 21 Dives!
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  • When & Where
    • Schedule and Prices
    • Destinations >
      • North Andaman Thailand >
        • Similan Islands
        • Surin Islands >
          • Richelieu Rock
        • The essential Underwater photo Guide to diving Thailand
      • South Andaman Thailand >
        • Phuket & Koh Phi Phi National Parks
        • Koh Lanta National Park
        • Koh Lipe and Tarutao National Park
      • Mergui Archipelago >
        • Liveaboard diving holiday in Myanmar
        • Burma's best dive sites
        • The Ultimate Underwater photo Guide to diving Burma
  • ABOUT
    • Our Boat >
      • DELICIOUS FOOD
    • Diving in Thailand in 2024-2025
    • Diving in Myanmar/Burma in 2024-2025
    • Blackwater diving in Thailand and Myannmar
    • Marine life in Thailand's Andaman Sea
    • Marine life in Mergui Archipelago
    • Dive Courses >
      • Learn to Dive
      • Continue diving education
      • Rescue diver
      • Professional Dive Courses
      • Hone your dive skills with a specialty course
      • Photo coaching in Thailand on the Smiling Seahorse
    • Guest Book
    • FAQ
  • Plan your trip
    • Our hotels recommendations
    • Khao Sok National Park
    • Taxi services >
      • Taxi services to and from Ranong
      • Taxi services to and from Phuket
      • Taxi services to Tap Lamu and Khao Lak
    • 10 things to do around Ranong
  • PROMO
    • HOT DEALS
    • Special Expeditions >
      • 8D Special Marine Bio with Gavin Miller - 10 Nov 2025
      • 8D Whale shark expedition - 20 March 2026 - North and South
  • gallery
    • Photos
    • Videos
  • CONTACT
  • BLOG
    • Most popular posts