A large eastern Pacific frogfish on rock and rubble, mottled to match whatever it is sitting on.
Sources disagree badly on size: FishBase gives 33 cm and the Smithsonian gives 53, which is a difference of more than half. Globular and somewhat compressed with a very large upward-facing mouth, limb-like pectoral fins with an elbow, and skin roughened by double-pointed spicules, which is the name. The mark to look for is a large black spot ringed in orange at the base of the dorsal fin.
The sanguine frogfish is the other common eastern Pacific frogfish and the two are easy to separate: this one is far larger, sits on flat sand or mud, and has the ringed black blotch; that one is small, sits in recesses in rock, and looks like an encrusting sponge.
It is a sit-and-wait ambush predator, usually on flat sand or mud rather than reef. Juveniles eat crustaceans and adults take fish, sometimes prey their own size. It has been recorded from the surface to about 300 m and is usually above 95.
The Galapagos record is well established. The Revillagigedo record is a single published specimen from Socorro and should be read as one documented occurrence rather than a normal sighting.
Ratings are per location: 1 means found on most dives that look for it, 5 means a handful of records. Where enough dives have been logged the figure is calculated from them; otherwise it is an editorial estimate, and says so. We publish habitat and destination, not the dive site.