San Diego & SoCal Fishing Forums

I’ve been catching a lot of cabs lately, and the last time I caught one, a guy near me said, “Be careful with that sculpin! They have poisonous spikes.”

I thought he was confusing it with a California scorpionfish, but later realized that cabs are a species of sculpin. Maybe he wasn’t confused. So I looked it up, but the internet is telling me everything from “they’re not venomous at all” to “they have a deadly venom in their spines”.

So do I need to be worried about cabezon spikes?

They're not, but their eggs are poisonous.

He's confused, it's a true sculpin, not a poisonous spiked scorpionfish.

OOlicon wrote: Mon Oct 02, 2023 6:11 pm He's confused, it's a true sculpin, not a poisonous spiked scorpionfish.

Good point. True sculpins, such as cabezon, are from the Cottoidea family, whereas the California Scorpionfish is from the Scorpaenidae family.

I think the spikes on gill plate can be venomous.