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The sargassum fishes resemble their relatives the anglers (p. 532) in their peculiar armlike pectorals and in their large fleshy ventrals, as well as in the fact that the forward part of their dorsal fin is represented by a series of separate spines. But they are very different from the anglers in general appearance, for their bodies and heads are flattened sidewise instead of dorso-ventrally; their soft second dorsal fin is much longer than their anal fin; their second and third dorsal spines are clothed with fleshy skin so thick as to obscure their true nature; and their mouth is much smaller than that of the anglers.
These curious little tropical-oceanic fishes live chiefly among masses of floating seaweed, with which they sometimes drift far to the north of their normal homes.