Halieutichthys caribbaeus

The Caribbean batfish has a very flattened head and body which is widened into a rounded disc and a moderately long tail. The mouth is small and there is a small illicial cavity on the snout where the illicium. or fishing rod, is rested when not being used. The illicial cavity is covered on puffy, membranous folds and the esca, or lure, is bulbous. The buckler like scale at the angle of the operculum is not bigger than the similar scales nearby. The dorsal and anal fins are small and are positioned towards the rear of the body. The bases of pectoral fins have a wide attachment to the caudal peduncle and the pelvic fins not shrunken. The lateral line is unbroken and there are an additional pair of lateral line organs at the base of the tail to the rear of the anus. The lateral line has no tubercles associated with it. The scales are tubercles and they are large, irregular and pitted with few on the base of the tail. On the upper body the tubercles are rather small and sharp and there are typically none above the eye. There is a triangle of 3 tubercles behind each eye, the innermost being small and blunt. The underside of adults has no scales adults with and large scaleless areas on the uppermost part of the body. …

The Caribbean batfish is found in the Western Atlantic Ocean from the Caribbean Sea to French Guiana. Reports of this species from the Gulf of Mexico and further north in the Atlantic are now considered to be misidentifications. This species is found at depths between 70 and 275 m (230 and 902 ft) on sand and rubble substrates on the lower continental and island shelves.

== References ==

The Caribbean batfish belongs to the genus Halieutichthys which combines the genus name Halieutaea, for the similarity of these fishes to the species in that genus, and ichthys, the Greek word for "fish". The specific name, caribbaeus, means "Caribbean", an allusion to the type locality.