Scaled Stargazer, Pleuroscopus pseudodorsalis Barnard 1927

Other Names: Blue Stargazer, Purple Stargazer, Spotted Stargazer

Summary:

A bluish, greyish-pink or purplish-blue stargazer becoming whitish, or pink to purplish-grey below, with many large black spots, blotches and irregular markings, blackish to dark purplish-blue dorsal, anal and caudal fins with yellow rays in small individuals, blackish pectoral fins with distinct black spots, and a white to yellowish margin on the anal, caudal, and pectoral fins.

Cite this page as:

Bray, D.J. 2025, Pleuroscopus pseudodorsalis in Fishes of Australia, accessed 06 Jun 2026, https://fishesofaustralia.net.au/home/species/2979

Scaled Stargazer, Pleuroscopus pseudodorsalis Barnard 1927

More Info

Distribution	Off Port Stephens, New South Wales, to west of Bunbury, Western Australia. Elsewhere the species occurs in the south-west Atlantic and south-west Indian Ocean in South Africa, and the south-west Pacific, Norfolk Ridge and New Zealand.
Features	Dorsal fin IX- X (short stumpy tubercles) + 0-I, 9-10; Anal fin 10-12; Pectoral fin 21-33; Pelvic fin I, 5; Caudal fin 13; Lateral-line scales 46-51. Body depth 19-28% SL, moderately elongate; head and trunk slightly to noticeably depressed, belly flabby. Head moderately large (32-37% SL), almost completely encased with bone, bony surface slightly to extremely rough; non bony space between orbits small, narrow to broad (10-25% HL); anterior portion of body with large humeral spine, with or without low horn like bump above each eye, pair of low bony ridges on top of head and low bony ridge on each opercle (structures lost with growth); eye diameter 19-23% HL, eyes directed laterally to dorso-laterally; mouth large, vertical; lips with small bumps and wrinkles but without fleshy fringe; row of large canines in lower jaw, upper jaw with two rows of smaller canines; chin with rough bony plate on either side in small individuals, absent in large adults; humeral spines mostly covered by skin, without fleshy fringing below; opercles without fleshy fringing on free edge. Body in small individuals almost completely covered by moderately small, very rough scales, those on ventral surface sometimes embedded, scales becoming smooth with low central bump and increasingly embedded in large adults, ventral surface losing scales. Dorsal fin a series of short stumpy rough tubercles, unconnected by membranes, followed by short based soft fin; anal-fin base elongate, rays increasing in length posteriorly; caudal fin slightly rounded. Pectoral fins large. Pelvic fins fleshy, jugular, arising below and slightly behind eyes.
Size	~70 cm TL
Fisheries	Often taken in commercial trawls on the upper continental slope.
Conservation	Frequently taken by commercial trawlers along upper continental slope;
Remarks	This species is remarkable in retaining an immature pelagic lifestyle to length of about 40 cm. The species then undergoes a pronounced change in appearance, and, like other stargazers, adults assume a bottom dwelling predatory existence. During this change, the body becomes more dorsoventrally flattened, and the scales lose their roughness and become more embedded in the skin. The scales on the underside are resorbed by the body.
Etymology	The specific name is from the Latin pseudo- (= false, spurious) and dorsalis (= dorsal, pertaining to the back), presumably in reference to "the series of tubercles representing the last trace of the obsolete spinous dorsal fin".
Species Citation	Pleuroscopus pseudodorsalis Barnard 1927, Annals and Magazine of Natural History 9 20(8): 67. Type locality: West Coast off Table Bay, South Africa, depth probably about 200 fathoms.
Author	Bray, D.J. 2025
Resources	Atlas of Living Australia Australian Faunal Directory Catalog of Fishes

Scaled Stargazer, Pleuroscopus pseudodorsalis Barnard 1927

References

Arnold, R.J. 2022. Family Uranoscopidae, Stargazers, pp. 320-325, pls. 123-124 in Heemstra, P.C. et al. Coastal fishes of the western Indian Ocean. Makhanda, SA : South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity Vol. 4 pp. 1-467, pl. 1-168. https://saiab.ac.za/publications/coastal-fishes-of-the-western-indian/

Barnard, K.H. 1927. Diagnoses of new genera and species of South African marine fishes. Annals and Magazine of Natural History (9) 20 (115) ( 8): 66-79. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222932708655566

Barnard, K.H. 1927. A monograph of the marine fishes of South Africa. Part II. (Teleostei--Discocephali to end. Appendix). Annals of the South African Museum 21(2): 419-1065, Pls. 18-37. https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/78199

Coulson, P.G. 2021. Had a gut full, of the scaled stargazer Pleuroscopus pseudodorsalis Barnard 1927. Pacific Conservation Biology 27: 303-306. https://doi.org/10.1071/PC20085

Gomon, M.F. 2008. Family Uranoscopidae. pp. 678-683 in Gomon, M.F., Bray, D.J. & Kuiter, R.H. (eds). Fishes of Australia's Southern Coast. Sydney : Reed New Holland 928 pp.

Gomon, M.F. 2015. 214 Family Uranoscopidae, pp. 1484-1490 in Roberts, C.D., Stewart, A.L. & Struthers, C.D. (eds). The Fishes of New Zealand. Wellington : Te Papa Press Vol. 4 pp. 1153-1748.

Gomon, M.F., Glover, C.J.M. & Kuiter, R.H. (eds) 1994. The Fishes of Australia's South Coast. Adelaide : State Printer 992 pp. 810 figs.

Kishimoto, H., Last, P.R., Fujii, E. & Gomon, M.F. 1988. Revision of a deep-sea stargazer genus Pleuroscopus. Japanese Journal of Ichthyology 35: 150–158. https://doi.org/10.11369/jji1950.35.150

Last, P.R., Scott, E.O.G. & Talbot, F.H. 1983. Fishes of Tasmania. Hobart : Tasmanian Fisheries Development Authority 563 pp. figs.

May, J.L. & Maxwell, J.G.H. 1986. Field Guide to Trawl Fish from Temperate Waters of Australia. Hobart : CSIRO Division of Marine Research 492 pp.

Mincarone, M.M., Bernardes, R.A. & Peppes, F.V. 2007. Occurrence of Pleuroscopus pseudodorsalis Barnard, 1927 (Uranoscopidae) near Rio Grande Plateau, western South Atlantic. Journal of Fish Biology 71(4): 1238-1240. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8649.2007.01588.x

Pietsch, T.W. 1989. Phylogenetic relationships of trachinoid fishes of the family Uranoscopidae. Copeia 1989(2): 253-303

Smith, M.M. & Heemstra, P.C. (eds) 1986. Smith's Sea Fishes. Johannesburg : Macmillan South Africa xx + 1047 pp. 144 pls.