The Atlantic batfish (Dibranchus atlanticus) is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Ogcocephalidae, … See more

Dibranchus atlanticus was first formally described in 1872 by the German zoologist Wilhelm Peters with its type locality given as near the coast of Western Africa at a depth of 360 fathoms (2,160 ft; 660 m). When he described … See more

D. atlanticus has a disc-shaped, vertically compressed body with a flat ventral surface, and grows to a standard length of 145 mm (6 in). The dorsal fin, which is set far back near the tail, has no spines and five to seve… See more

D. atlanticus is found in both the western and eastern Atlantic Ocean. Its range extends from the coasts of Canada and the United States, southwards through the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico to South America, a… See more

This fish may be bioluminescent, as there has been a report that in the laboratory, its skin can emit flashes of light when stimulated with peroxidase, but this effect has not been observed in living specimens. It lures pre… See more

This deep sea fish is of no interest to commercial fisheries but it is often caught in deep water trawl surveys and appears to be common. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has listed it as being a "… See more