Author: (Collett, 1874)
Lebetus scorpioides (Collett, 1874)
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Lebetus scorpioides (Collett, 1874) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: see genus. Dl VI (VI-VII); D2 I + 9-10, A I + 7-8, P 18-20 (17-21). Scales in lateral series 26-27 (25-29). Vertebrae 27-29. Colour: caudal peduncle with pale band; dark spot in upper anterior corner of second dorsal fin. Adult male: yellowish to dusky grey, with greyish lateral bars; first dorsal fin enlarged, dusky yellow, edged white; second dorsal fin with oblique yellow and white bands, edged intense black. Adult female: pale brown, with purplish-brown vertical bars; dorsal fins with yellow to orange-red, dark delimited bands; first dorsal fin with distal dark spot in rear corner. Size: to 3.9 cm.
Habitat: offshore, to 375 m, chiefly on coarse grounds, especially coralline deposits, but also on muddy areas. Food: small crustaceans (decapods, amphipods), polychaetes and bivalves. Reproduction: February-October (western English Channel), March-August (Isle of Man). Fecundity 270 at 2.8 cm. Sexually mature at 1 or 2 years. Lifespan: at least 2 years.
Distribution: eastern Atlantic (south-west Iceland, the Faroes and Hemnefjord, Norway, to northern Bay of Biscay).
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Fage, 1918: 63, 71, 101, fig. 54-56 | Demir and Russel, 1971: 669, fig. 2-3.
Otoliths (sagitta). Miller, 1963: 219, fig. 6A.