A batfish with a shorter, blunter rostrum than the polka-dot, on sand and rubble in the same places.
To 38 cm. Short, deep, flattened and triangular, with conical lumps over the head and body and a short snout. The pectoral membrane is black towards the outer edge, and the tips of the pelvic rays form fleshy pads.
The polka-dot batfish is the confusion, and the pectoral fins separate them: dark spots on a light ground there, a black outer membrane here, with conical lumps rather than rounded ones.
It lives on the bottom on flat sand, coral rubble, seagrass or mud, walking on its arm-like pectoral fins, and eats molluscs, crabs, fish, worms and algae. It has been recorded from the surface to about 300 m, and most dive-depth records are shallow. It can be picked up by hand, which is not a reason to do it.
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.