Red scorpionfish Scorpaena scrofa

In this video we have filmed quite closely a Red scorpionfish Scorpaena scrofa, encountered on a rocky bottom ranging from 39 to 43 meters deep. 

We are at the end of the dive and before leaving the bottom to begin the ascent, as soon as I get off the seabed with the corner of my eye I can see the redfish and slowly approach me to film it.

Filming the Red Scorpionfish is quite easy, because the animal sure of its mimicry and the potential poison of its quills, often does not get scared and lets the diver approach until it becomes too intrusive.

The problem is instead being able to see it, in some articles we have documented how often you pass very close to the animal without seeing it, then realizing by watching the video how close we have passed.

Another thing that can be seen in the video is the incredible mimicry of this species, without the lights the fish has a neutral color that completely confuses it with the environment in which it lives, as we approach with the torches, the light reveals the color. red and the various yellow reflections of the redfish livery.

Scorpionfish (Scorpaena scrofa Linnaeus, 1758), better known as the Red Scorpionfish, is a fish of the Scorpaenidae family.

Distribution and habitat It is widespread in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, from the British Isles, to Morocco, the Canaries, the Azores and the Mediterranean Sea. It lives on hard, rocky or coralligenous bottoms, usually at a depth greater than 20 m (up to over 200 m) even if the young can be met in shallower waters. It has a predilection for rocky shoals that rise from a muddy bottom, but it is also found in reef environments of all kinds and on loose bottoms made up of sand, mud and debris. Its habitat is very varied and its habits extremely territorial, to the point that it is possible to dive and observe the same specimens for years in the same place, chosen as a home and at the same time as a hunting area.

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorpaena_scrofa https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scorpaena_scrofa