New Records of the Dwarf Scorpionfish, Sebastapistes fowleri (Actinopterygii: Scorpaeniformes: Scorpaenidae), from East Asia, and Notes on Australian Records of the Species

Abstract

Twenty specimens of the smallest known scorpionfish, Sebastapistes fowleri (Pietschmann, 1934), collected from Taiwan and the Ryukyu Islands and recently found in museum collections, represent the first records of S. fowleri from East Asia. The Philippines and Guam were previously regarded as the northernmost records of the species. In addition, 15 specimens of S. fowleri from the Timor, Coral, and Tasman Seas are also reported, these being the first records from Australian waters. The Tasman Sea represents a new southernmost range extension.