Dwarf Lionfish

Neochirus brachypterus has 13 spines and 9 or 10 soft rays in its dorsal fin, the middle spines of the dorsal fin are shorter than the depth of the body, and there are 3 spines and 5 soft rays in the anal fin. The background colour is dusky mottled brown to reddish-brown broken by darker bars on the body. The pectoral fins are distinctly banded. There is a short tentacle over the eye and leaf-like appendages on the head and along the lateral line which vary in their development. There are no filaments on the pelvic fins. There are black spots edged with red on the filaments extending from the dorsal spines and there are 8-10 dark bars on pectoral fins. This species attains a maximum published total length of 17 cm (6.7 in).

Neochirus brachypterus has a wide Indo-Pacific distribution from the eastern coast of Africa from the Red Sea south to South Africa and eastwards to Samoa, north to the Philippines and south to Australia. In Australian waters, this species occurs from the Houtman Abrolhos in Western Australia to Sydney in New South Wales, as well as Lord Howe Island in the Tasman Sea. The dwarf lionfish is found at depths between 1 and 80 m (3 ft 3 in and 262 ft 6 in) in reef flats and shallow lagoons, where there are weed-covered rocks on sandy substrates.