Small green-eyed fish

I found this fish on an evening dive at Lembeh Resort house reef. It was about 3-4 inches long and in a depth of 5-6m.

Can anyone help me out with this one? I can't even pinpoint a family, let alone the species.

I must admit that it doesn't help that I only photographed its head - I was probably too drawn to its green eyes.

Closest that I can find is Barchin scorpionfish. Sebastapistes strongia. Bars on the chin and size seem to match, but just a guess.

Cheers,

Marli

Closest that I can find is Barchin scorpionfish. Sebastapistes strongia. Bars on the chin and size seem to match, but just a guess.

Cheers,

Marli

Thanks Marli, you might be on to something there. Sebastapistes strongia is a good guess. Just looking at pictures on the web (in work right now), it's hard to confirm - Most pictures are by JE Randall and he kills his fish before taking a picture.

I have seen and photographed a relative, the Yellow-spotted Scorpionfish (Sebastapistes cyanostigma), many times and didn't realise that 'my' fish could be the same genus - the cyanostigma always lives within the branches of hard corals, whereas this thing just sat on the sand - not at all hidden (apart from the camo).

Cheers

Very hard to tell without a full body shot, but I also think it is in the genus Sebastapistes.

it's hard to confirm - Most pictures are by JE Randall and he kills his fish before taking a picture.

That's the way you are supposed to do it if you want to be 100% sure of the ID