russelii, Pterois Bennett [E. T.] (ex Russell) 1831:128 [Proceedings of the Committee of Science and Correspondence of the Zoological Society of London 1830-31 (pt 1); ref. 16790] India [Coromandel coast, India, eastern Indian Ocean]. No types preserved. Based on the 'Kodipungi' in "Russel [P. Russell], Coromandel Fishes, no. 133." Named for Russell (misspelled as Russel), here not considered as an inadvertent error, therefore spelling russelii retained. •Valid as Pterois russelli Bennett 1831 -- (Eschmeyer 1986:467 [ref. 5652], Allen & Swainston 1988:48 [ref. 25477], Paxton et al. 1989:446 [ref. 12442], Krishnan & Mishra 1993:219 [ref. 24016], Goren & Dor 1994:21 [ref. 25356], Randall 1995:110 [ref. 22896], Mohsin & Ambak 1996:573 [ref. 27969], Allen 1997:76 [ref. 23977], Kuiter 1997:90 [ref. 25488], Randall et al. 1997:503 [ref. 25919], Mishra et al. 1999:85 [ref. 25315], Hutchins 2001:27 [ref. 25847], Vilasri et al. 2023:77 [ref. 40764]). •Valid as Pterois russellii Bennett 1831 -- (Dor 1984:86 [ref. 29757], Carpenter et al. 1997:136 [ref. 23922], Chen et al. 1997:167 [ref. 26476], Mishra & Srinivasan 1999:241 [ref. 24754], Poss 1999:2331 [ref. 24796], Poss in Randall & Lim 2000:605 [ref. 25122], Mandrytsa 2001:275 [ref. 25636], Adrim et al. 2004:119 [ref. 27715], Allen & Erdmann 2012:222 [ref. 31980], Larson et al. 2013:82 [ref. 32988], Ali et al. 2018:316 [ref. 36183], Matsunuma in Kimura et al. 2018:76 [ref. 36460], Motomura in Koeda & Ho 2019:520 [ref. 42208], Moazzam & Osmany 2023:303 [ref. 40698]). •Valid as Pterois russelii Bennett 1831 -- (Allen & Adrim 2003:29 [ref. 26830], Manilo & Bogorodsky 2003:S102 [ref. 27377], Heemstra & Heemstra 2004:144 [ref. 28072], Allen et al. 2006:880 [ref. 29002], Allen & Erdmann 2008:128 [ref. 29479], Yoshida et al. 2013:79 [ref. 34464], Psomadakis et al. 2015:184 [ref. 34104], Matsunuma et al. 2017:334 [ref. 35034], Motomura et al. 2017:67 [ref. 35490], Wilcox et al. 2017:1 [ref. 35525], Fricke et al. 2018:133 [ref. 35805], Golani & Fricke 2018:54 [ref. 36273], Eagderi et al. 2019:128 [ref. 37020], Habib & Islam 2020:Supplementary table p. 28 [ref. 38321], Kwik & Lim 2020:16 [ref. 38869], Psomadakis et al. 2020:360 [ref. 37272], Gloerfelt-Tarp & Kailola 2022:115 [ref. 41223], Poss & Motomura 2022:518 [ref. 39725], Chou et al. 2023:6 [ref. 41366], Allen & Erdmann 2024:239 [ref. 40796], Chou et al. 2024:4 [ref. 41800], Eagderi et al. 2026:93 [ref. 42824], Golani & Fricke 2026:141 [ref. 42831]). Current status: Valid as Pterois russelii Bennett 1831. Scorpaenidae: Pteroinae. Distribution: Red Sea; Indo-West Pacific: South Africa, East Africa, Persian Gulf, Madagascar and Mascarenes (Mauritius) east to Philippines, north to Vietnam, southern China and Taiwan, south to Western Australia, Queensland (Australia) and New Caledonia. IUCN (2016): Least Concern. Habitat: brackish, marine.