Spiny red gurnard (Chelidonichthys spinosus) is a saltwater species recorded in Taiwan. It is found at depths of 25–615 m.
Scientific name: Chelidonichthys spinosus · Water: Saltwater
Size: up to 40 cm
The spiny red gurnard is a triglid of sandy and sandy mud bottoms, found in tropical to warm temperate waters. Its range is the northwest Pacific, from southern Hokkaido in Japan southward to the South China Sea. Maximum length is about 40 cm total length. It is a commercial and game species and is sold at a very high price. It is found from 25 to 615 m. Trophic level is 3.9, fishing vulnerability moderate at 38 of 100, and resilience medium. IUCN lists it as least concern.
The head is large and triangular and bears a number of ridges and spines, though it has no occipital groove, and the diameter of the eyes exceeds the distance between them. Both the soft-rayed dorsal fin and the anal fin hold between 15 and 17 soft rays, and the bases of both dorsal fins carry small, robustly spined plates known as bucklers, which ossify the pterygiophores. The body has small scales, but the breast is bare. The overall colour is olive or brownish and turns red under stress, the lower part of the pectoral fins is scattered with a great many bluish spots, and there is sometimes a black blotch on the inner surface of the pectoral fin. The maximum published weight is 950 g. It is found in the China Sea, the Yellow Sea and Japan mainly west of Kyushu, and it is fished by trawling throughout its range.
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