[4] Parascorpaena aurita has very variegated colouration on its body, mostnly brownish or greyish, interspersed with irregular blotches which are a combination of any of blackish, reddish, yellowish brown or white.

The spiny part of the dorsal fin is also strongly variegated, although it has no distinct black blotches in either sex.

The soft-rayed part of the dorsal fin is translucent white and has four ill-defined dark blotches.

The lower part of the pectoral fin is white, with indistinct reddish-brown spots.

[5] Parascorpaena aurita is found in the Indian Ocean from the Red Sea, the coast of East Africa off Kenya and Tanzania, Madagascar, the Seychelles and then in the eastern Andaman Sea through Indonesia and Papua New Guinea and the Philippines, north to Japan and south to Australia and east to the Solomon Islands.