Ogcocephalus cubifrons
Polka-Dot Batfish
Collection Details
Specimens
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Lophiiformes (Anglerfish)
Ogcocephalidae (Batfishes)
Ogcocephalus
Ogcocephalus cubifrons (Polka-Dot Batfish)
Description
This species account was compiled from
Composite (multiple sources) (McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm. Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. University of Texas Press, Austin.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
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Characters
Depressed and subtriangular anteriorly, with variable rostrum; rostrum long, upturned, and conical in small specimens, and small and knoblike in large specimens; rostral length 16% to 56% of length of disc margin; cranium rises steeply above disc, head depth 46% to 59% of length of disc margin, and width of cranium 28% to 39% of length of disc margin; eye 53% to 71% of cranium width; interorbital space slightly concave, 46% to 67% of cranium width, and 29% to 44% of head depth; mouth width 46% to 63% of head depth and 23% to 31% of length of disc margin; jaw length 31% to 40% of head depth; teeth conical, retrorse, villiform, and in bands in jaws, tongue, vomer, and palatine; gill filaments on second and third gill arches and on anterior part of fourth gill arch; gill rakers oval plates with conical, villiform teeth; pectoral fin with well-developed armlike pedicle, well separated from body, and 11 to 14 rays; fleshy pads on ventral surface of pectoral fin rays; illicial cavity small and subtriangular in small specimens and oval in large specimens; esca with two prominent lateral lobes and a single fleshy median lobe; second dorsal fin with 3 to 5 unbranched rays; pelvic fin narrow based and flared distally, with fleshy pads on ventral sides of fin rays; anal fin with 3 or 4 rays; body covered with close-set tubercles and bucklers; lateral line scales 23 to 36, averaging 28.1; vertebrae 19 to 21
Light tan to dark brown or gray dorsally, with black spots on head, shoulder, lateral aspect of tail, pectoral fin, and usually on lateral margin of disc; pectoral fin with broad dark brown to black border in small specimens; caudal fin dark proximally, light medially, and black distally, and generally with spots and blotches over length; ventral surface, pelvic fin, and anal fin pale
Distribution
Western Atlantic from Cape Lookout, North Carolina, to Yucatan, including the Bahamas and the northeastern Gulf of Mexico westward to Pensacola, Florida
Habitat Associations
Between the shoreline and 68 m
Biology
Maximum known size is 230 mm SL
A rare species found on sandy, muddy, or rocky bottoms.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2014-09-16. Resilience: Low (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
Distinguished from other species of the family by the combination of characters described
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: of no interest.
References
Longley and Hildebrand 1941
Bohlke and Chaplin 1968
Hastings et al. 1976
Bradbury 1980
C. R. Robins et al. 1986
Boschung 1992
Lieske, E. and R. Myers (1994) Collins Pocket Guide. Coral reef fishes. Indo-Pacific & Caribbean including the Red Sea. Haper Collins Publishers, 400 p.
Bradbury, M.G. (1980) A revision of the fish genus Ogcocephalus with descriptions of new species from the western Atlantic Ocean (Ogcocephalidae: Lophiiformes). Proc. Calif. Acad. Sci. 42(7):229-285.
Comments On Ogcocephalus cubifrons