scorpion
Refers to the arachnid; no special nuance.
I found a scorpion in the desert.
Katakana spelling is common for this animal name; usually written in kana.
Hiragana spelling, also used.
Kanji form is rare and not commonly used in modern Japanese.
The word is native Japanese; the kanji 蠍 is a Chinese character for scorpion, but the reading さそり is not derived from it.