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rascasse

scorpion fish

They won’t win a beauty contest, but these rock fish make great soup, especially bouillabaisse. Other French names for rascasse (scorpion fish) include Grande rascasse rouge, chapon, scorpeno, badasco, escourpe (Provence), cappone (Corsica), escorpe (Roussillon), and capoun (Languedoc).

Watch out: the spines are poisonous if you're pricked by one.

Uranoscopus scaber photographed in Paros, Greece.

Rascasse blanche or uranoscope or Atlantic stargazer is another fish that might end up in the soup pot; it’s a bottom feeder and a rare sea creature able to generate an electric shock.

Fish and seafood

Text © Dana Facaros

Images by Paul Asman and Jill Lenoble, Roberto Pillon