Spot-tail Anglerfish

Lophiocharon trisignatus has the second and third dorsal spines free of the skin and not hidden underneath it. All of the fin rays in the caudal fin are bifurcate. The skin has a covering of dermal denticles and the third dorsal spine is joined for more than a quarter of its length to the nape by a membrane or is connected to the soft dorsal fin by skin, and is connected to the second spine at its base. The caudal fin is typically marked with translucent ocelli between every second fin ray. The illicium, or fishing rod, is long and naked and is tipped with a large and complex esca, or lure. This fish does not have a caudal peduncle and the rear margins of the dorsal and anal fins are joined to thee base of the outermost fin rays of the caudal fin. The lobe of the pectoral fin resembles and arm and is widely connected to the body. The dorsal fin is supported by 12 or 13 soft rays while the anal fin contains between 6 and 8 soft rays. The spot-tail anglerfish has a maximum published standard length of 14.7 cm (5.8 in), making it the largest of the three Lophiocharon anglerfishes.

Lophiocharon trisignatus is found in the Indo-Pacific region from Singapore east through Indonesia to the Philippines south to Australia. In Australia it ranges from Shark Bay in Western Australia north and east to Thursday Island in Queensland. It is found at depths between 2 and 52 m (6 ft 7 in and 170 ft 7 in), although typically no deeper than 20 m (66 ft), among coastal coral and rocky reefs, as well as under wharf pilings or amongst debris and rubble.

Lophiocharon trisignatus has the genus name Lophiocharon, which Richardson did not explain. It is thought to be a combination of Lophius, the type genus of the order Lophiiformes, and may be being used as a general term for anglerfishes, with Charon, the ferryman who ferried the dead across the Styx. The specific name, trisin=gnatus means "marked three times", an allusion to the three spots on the sides of some specimens.