Demon Stinger

Image Bernard DUPONT

This fish has stolen my heart! Probably eaten it, too.

The skies above the Indo-Pacific Ocean are ablaze with the colours of fire as the sun issues a final, desperate show of strength before it sinks into the horizon.

As the flames are subdued by the encroaching night, unblinking eyes awaken on the sea floor.

Video: john ruggles

From sandy reefs and lagoons, gaudy beasts emerge from the silt. Crawling on two pairs of crone's fingers, they seek out fresh meat.

Image: prilfish

Some call them the Demon Stingers, Devil Stingers or Spiny Devilfish. Others the Sea Goblins or Goblinfish. Still others refer to them simply as Ghouls.

To science, they are known as Inimicus, enemy.

Video: J Kl

There can be no better name for such a creature. Its cold, bulbous eyes protrude appallingly from its skull while its long, upturned snout ends in a wide, arrogant scowl.

The filthy, scaleless skin is covered in warts and the detritus of the sea in which it passes the day half-buried in undisturbed slumber, or patiently awaiting a victim to ambush. Along the back of its 25 cm (10 in) body a row of spines stand erect like the masts of a shipwreck. It's with these they deliver their painful, venomous sting to the unwary.

Image Bernard DUPONT

One must be thankful that the fiends seem curiously unwilling to make use of their lethal endowment. Approach a Ghoul and it will soon make its presence indubitable; their large pectoral and tail fins are charged with astounding colour and patterns of great delicacy which serve as warning to the incautious.

Video: Victor Koretsky

Take heed of their warning and be vigilant as you explore the soft sands and warm seas of paradise...

Image: Hogweard

For here there be wyverns.