Leaf scorpionfish

The leaf scorpionfish is a small, camouflaged reef fish found across the Indo-Pacific, growing to about 10 cm. It looks and moves like a dead leaf drifting in the current.

Also known as: taenianotus triacanthus, leaf fish, leaffish, paper fish, paper scorpionfish, paperfish, sailfin leaf fish, sailfin leaffish, scorpionfish, swayfish, three-spined scorpionfish, threespine scorpionfish

Look for a small, flat, leaf-shaped fish that sways slowly from side to side instead of swimming normally. It can be almost any colour, so rely on the flattened leaf shape and swaying motion rather than colour to spot it.

The body is almost flat, like a leaf, with a large head and mouth. A dark line runs through each eye. Colour is highly variable, ranging from green, red, pink, brown and ocher to a ghostly white, often with blotches that add to the camouflage. Fleshy tabs hang around the mouth, and algae or hydroids sometimes grow directly on its skin.

This fish lives on coral reefs, from 5 to 135 m deep but usually between 5 and 20 m, on reef flats, outer reef slopes and in current-swept channels.

This species stays still for long periods and sways gently from side to side, mimicking a dead leaf drifting in the water. It is an ambush hunter: it waits for a small fish or shrimp to come close, edges toward it with its pectoral fins, then sucks the prey in with a sudden snap of its mouth.

venomous

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  Black Scorpionfish

  Scorpaena porcus

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  Devil Scorpionfish

  Scorpaenopsis diabolus

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  Madeira Scorpionfish

  Scorpaena maderensis

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  Red scorpionfish

  Scorpaena scrofa

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  Scorpionfish

  scorpionfishes

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  Small Red Scorpionfish

  Scorpaena notata