CAUGHT-UP IN A WASPFISH STIING!

 

The longfin waspfish is spectacular species that is not easy to keep in the home aquarium. At night it emerges from the sand and cruises just over the bottom hunting. 

There are many of aquarists that are always in search of the bizarre. There are a number of scorpionfishes that fall into this category and some of these show-up in the aquarium stores from time to time. These fishes are like fine art - they don't move around much but they are beautiful to behold as they remain in repose on the bottom of the tank or on the rock-work.

There are several species in the family Apistidae (which are closely related to scoripnfishes) and one of these species is available to aquarists on rare occasions - this is the longfin or bearded waspfish (Apistus carinatus) (Bloch & Schneider, 1801). This fish ranges from the east coast of Africa and the Red Sea east to the Indo-Malayan Region, north to Japan and south to Queensland. As mentioned above, it is closely related to the scorpionfishes - in fact, not long ago the family was thought to be a subfamily of the Scorpaenidae. While it is commonly called a waspfish, do not confuse it with those of like-name from the family Tetrarogidae.