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Inimicus didactylus
This type of stonefish is also known as Demon Stinger, Devil Stinger, Devil Scorpionfish, Demon Rockfish, Goblinfish, Demon Goblinfish, Popeyed Sea Goblin, Bearded Ghoul, Indian Walkman and Red Sea Walkman. It is very dangerous and poisonous if trodden upon, due to its venomous spines along its back. Although, it will move out of harms way if disturbed. The Spiny Devilfish walks rather than swims. Its colors vary from place to place. It feeds nocturnally on fish and invertebrates.
Found on or buried in sandy areas near coral outcrops all over the Indo-Pacific region.
I photographed this particular devilfish at a depth of about 10m, at a dive site called East Point in Barangay Tagpopongan, Samal Island, Philippines. When I first saw it, it was almost completely buried in the black sand (photo #4). It flared its colorful fins and tail when my camera came too close.
Spotted on Oct 30, 2011
Submitted on Nov 29, 2011
16 Comments
It is one of my favorite underwater shots, so far. Thanks guys! :)
lovely.... :-)
Wonderful spotting!
very good foto
Thanks, Ashish & Daniele for your kind words. :)
Great spotting and great notes! Congratulations.
Great colours and great efforts to spot this cute fish...!!
Thank you, Peter!!
Thanks, Eric. :)
@ArgyBee - That's right. That's why when I saw it I couldn't figure out right away what it was.
@Leuba - Yep, it sure was great spotting this. Too bad, though, because we saw it at the end of our dive (during our safety stop, in fact). I was already very low on air, so I wasn't able to take a lot of photos of this devilfish.
The fins are more attractive than intimidating - the body looks devilish, alright! - what a strange mixture for a nocturnal feeder. Just shows that bright colours and regular patterns maybe intimidating to other creatures.
Thanks - it must have felt good spotting this.
many stonefish are really drab - this one sure breaks the trend
Congrats Blogie. :-)
Spotting of the Day!
"Also known also as the Demon stinger, the Spiny devilfish is a venomous species of stonefish. Its poisonous spines are capable of delivering fatal stings to humans."
http://facebook.com/projectnoah/posts/22...
http://twitter.com/projectnoah/status/14...
Thanks, Juan!
Such a weird fish, looks very intimidating. Great spotting
Thanks, Victoria. It was quite fascinating!
very cool fish!