Ablabys taenianotus, or the cockatoo waspfish, is a small fish species that belongs to the scorpionfishes family Scorpaenidae.

[4] Ablabys taenianotus lives at depths from 2 to 60 ft (0.6 to 18.2m) on sandy, silty or rubble bottoms, and also in fields of sea grass Zosteraceae.

It is an opportunistic predator and ambushes passing prey while mimicking a crumpled, dead leaf or a drifting piece of seaweed.

Cockatoo waspfish eat fish, crabs, polychaetes worms, shrimp, jellyfish and medusae.

"Spawing Behavior and Social Organization of the Congiopodid Fish Ablabys taenianotus at Miyake-jima, Japan".