About Mail-cheeked Fishes

Scorpaeniformes (mail-cheeked fishes) include scorpionfishes, lionfishes, rockfishes (Sebastes), and sculpins (Cottidae).

Morphology. Named for the suborbital stay (a bony bridge) that armours the cheek. Bodies are often large-headed, spiny, and cryptically coloured. Many scorpionfishes have venomous fin spines. Some (lionfish) are strikingly striped and invasive in the Atlantic.

Habitat & distribution. Chiefly marine, benthic on reefs and rocky bottoms in temperate and tropical seas; sculpins also occur in cold northern waters and some freshwater.

Human significance. Rockfishes and scorpionfishes are food fishes; lionfishes are popular marine aquarium species but invasive in the Caribbean.