Fish of the Uranoscopus genus of the Uranoscopidae (stargazers) family of the Trachiniformes order of the Percomorpha clade of the Acanthopterygii superorder.
(Stargazer. Photo by © Roberto Pillon. marinespecies.org)
Stargazer (Uranoscopus scaber) was first described in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus (1707-1778).
It inhabits the depth of 15-400 meters. It dwells near a sandy and silty bottom. The maximum recorded length is 40 cm, specimens up to 22 cm long are more common. The maximum weight is 940 grams. It feeds on worms, mollusks, and small fish.
(Stargazer. Photo by © S. Bogorodsky. files.school-collection.edu.ru)
It is a permanent inhabitant of the Adriatic Sea.
It poses a hazard to human health – it has venomous spines above the pectoral fins behind the gill covers. Careful handling is required!
Names of stargazer (Uranoscopus scaber) in other languages as follows:
Pupëza (Albanian), Морска жаба (Morska Zhaba) (Bulgarian), Λύχνος (Lichnos) (Greek), Rata (Spanish), Pesce prete (Italian), Himmelsgucker (German), Skaber (Polish), Miracielo (Portuguese), Bou de mare (Romanian), Европейский звездочёт (Evropejskij zvezdochjot) (Russian), Bežmek (Serbian, Croatian), Zvezdogled (Slovenian), Kurbağa balığı (турецкий), Uranoscope (Turkish), Nebehled obecný (Czech).