Note on the record of scorpion fish Parapterois macrura

Abstract

The family Scorpaenidae includes 209 species
of fishes that are commonly called Scorpion fishes
or rock fishes. Out of the 209 species only 18 have
been described by Indian researchers so far and
along Karnataka coast seven species have been
recorded. The Genus Parapterois has two species
viz. P. heterura and P. macrura. Though the P.
heterura is widely distributed in the Indo-Pacific,
P. macrura has so far been located only in the
Malabar- Mangalore coast of Karnataka. Mandrytsa
(2001) recorded a poorly known scorpion fish,
Pterois macrura Alcock, 1896, originally described
from the Malabar Coast off Calicut, west coast of
India, as a second species of Parapterois and
provided a key to the two species