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Long-spined sea scorpion

Taurulus bubalis

Taurulus bubalis (Euphrasen, 1786) · Cottidae WoRMS 127204

Reference photos

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A scaleless rocky-shore ambush predator with very large eyes and mouth, a spiny head carrying one very long cheek spine, and colouring that matches its surroundings with great accuracy.

Depth

Intertidal pools and shallow rocky ground down to about 30 m; recorded to 200 m

Size

Up to 25 cm (females) and 17.5 cm (males), commonly about 12 cm

Habitat

Rocky ground and tide pools among algae, from the intertidal down to about 30 m

Behaviour

A resident ambush predator that lies motionless, relying on camouflage; can leave a tide pool when conditions turn inhospitable, and breathes air out of water

Diet

I eat

  • Small crustaceans: mysids, amphipods (gammarids) and decapods such as crabs and shrimps
  • Fish, taken by ambush in shallow water and rockpools
  • Seabed invertebrates: polychaete worms, molluscs and brittle stars

Where you'd find it

Found around most of Britain and Ireland, though less often in the Celtic Sea and the waters west of Ireland.

ChannelCeltic SeaNorth SeaIrish SeaW of IrelandW of Scotland
Often seenNow and thenWhere PEBL filmsBased on marine survey records (OBIS). Blank seas can mean nobody has looked there, not that the animal is absent.

Sources

Open-access references behind this page. Every statement on this page was read out of one of them; anything that could not be traced to a source was taken off the page rather than left standing. Each link was checked on the date shown, and confirmed then to be about this species.

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