Looks like a California scorpionfish, but...

[Reeveseye]

...the colors and banding are throwing me off. Could he be a Spotted or Stone scorpionfish (Scorpaena plumieri mystes) instead? Or barring that, some sort of sculpin? This is the only picture I have of it.

What I do know:
Seen at Casino Point Dive Park, Avalon, CA (Catalina Island) at about 1330 hours on Monday May 02. Fish was resting on the gravel/sand bottom in a crevice at about 20' deep. He was about 6" - 9" long, and held very still even though I had the camera less than two feet from him. Any ideas?

 

[MoonWrasse]

He fits the description almost to the letter.

http://www.dfg.ca.gov/mrd/rockfish/scorpionfish.html

 

[drbill]

I've encountered variants of this one as well. There is a fair bit of color variation in the spotted scorpionfish including a bright red one. The banding does throw you.

Dr. Bill