---
title: "What the sources say about the Red-Lipped Batfish | AnimalTracks.wiki"
description: "37 claims from the Red-Lipped Batfish profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it."
image: "https://animaltracks.wiki/images/animals/red-lipped-batfish-1.webp"
canonical: "https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/red-lipped-batfish/sources/"
---

# What the sources say about the Red-Lipped Batfish (*Ogcocephalus darwini*)

> 37 claims from the Red-Lipped Batfish profile, each beside the words of the source that backs it. A "..." marks a cut in a quote and [brackets] an insertion.

Profile: [Red-Lipped Batfish](https://animaltracks.wiki/animals/red-lipped-batfish/)

## Rivera et al. (2023). Ogcocephalus darwini. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2023: e.T183821A217631260.

https://doi.org/10.2305/iucn.uk.2023-1.rlts.t183821a217631260.en

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| The IUCN Red List rates the species Least Concern. | IUCN Red List category: Least Concern (LC). |
| No. The IUCN Red List rates it Least Concern. | IUCN Red List category: Least Concern (LC). |

## Ogcocephalus darwini Hubbs, 1958. FishBase.

https://www.fishbase.se/summary/Ogcocephalus-darwini.html

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Sandy bottoms from the Galápagos Islands south to Peru, 3 to 120 m deep | depth range 3 - 120 m (note: Source prints ranges as '3 - 120 m' and '3 - 76 m'.) |
| Sandy bottoms from the Galápagos Islands south to Peru, 3 to 120 m deep | Southeast Pacific: Galapagos Islands south to Peru. (note: Source prints ranges as '3 - 120 m' and '3 - 76 m'.) |
| Believed to eat small invertebrates | believed to be predatory, feeding on small invertebrates |
| The red-lipped batfish (*Ogcocephalus darwini*) belongs to this family | Lophiiformes (Anglerfishes) > Ogcocephalidae (Batfishes) |
| A male or unsexed red-lipped batfish tops out at 20.3 cm in standard length, and a female at 21.5 cm. | Max length : 20.3 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 5590 ); 21.5 cm SL (female) |
| It is found on sandy bottoms, between 3 and 120 m deep but usually at 3 to 76 m. | Found on sandy bottoms (note: Source prints ranges as '3 - 120 m' and '3 - 76 m'.) |
| It is found on sandy bottoms, between 3 and 120 m deep but usually at 3 to 76 m. | depth range 3 - 120 m (Ref. 127879 ), usually 3 - 76 m (note: Source prints ranges as '3 - 120 m' and '3 - 76 m'.) |
| It is believed to be predatory, feeding on small invertebrates. | believed to be predatory, feeding on small invertebrates |
| FishBase says it is common below 10 m and seems incautious, unlike other batfishes that are limited in their range due to many predators. | Common below 10 m and seem to be incautious, unlike other batfishes which are limited in their range due to many predators. |
| It lists the fish as harmless to humans. | Threat to humans Harmless |
| FishBase gives its range as the Galápagos Islands south to Peru. | Southeast Pacific: Galapagos Islands south to Peru. |
| FishBase gives a maximum standard length of 21.5 cm for a female and 20.3 cm for a male or a fish whose sex was not recorded. | Max length : 20.3 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 5590 ); 21.5 cm SL (female) |
| Small and shallow | depth range 3 - 120 m (note: Small: max 20.3 cm SL male/unsexed, 21.5 cm SL female (separate claim).) |

## Alves, Campos-da-Paz & Vianna (2021). Illicium use in Brazilian batfish Ogcocephalus vespertilio (Linnaeus, 1758) feeding behavior in nature and in captivity. Ocean and Coastal Research.

https://doi.org/10.1590/2675-2824069.20-020vmpa

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A Galápagos batfish whose genus walks the seabed on modified fins. | presenting modified pectoral and pelvic fins for specialized substrate movement, allowing them to slowly “walk” on the bottom, swimming only short distances (note: Genus scope (Ogcocephalus). Galápagos from FishBase: Southeast Pacific: Galapagos Islands south to Peru.) |
| Fin-walking on the seabed, with a fishing lure that tucks into a cavity on its snout | allowing them to slowly “walk” on the bottom |
| Fin-walking on the seabed, with a fishing lure that tucks into a cavity on its snout | When the illicium is retracted, the lure is sheltered in the illicium cavity between the mouth and the tip of the snout |
| its genus has pectoral and pelvic fins | presenting modified pectoral and pelvic fins for specialized substrate movement, allowing them to slowly “walk” on the bottom, swimming only short distances |
| Swimming is something they do only over short distances. | slowly “walk” on the bottom, swimming only short distances |
| A relative in the same genus, the Brazilian batfish, was filmed in the wild. | an O. vespertilio individual was filmed at a depth of 34 m |
| It alternately used its pectoral and pelvic fins to slide slowly across the seabed. | the individual alternately using its pectoral and pelvic fins to slowly slide along the substrate |
| Its second move resembled a jump, ending in a quick lunge. | The second mode resembled a jump, with the individual using its pectoral fins to gain impulse, with the pelvic fins positioned ahead, finishing with a quick lunge. |
| Batfishes carry an illicium, a modified front dorsal-fin spine that works like a fishing pole and usually bears a lure called an esca. | the illicium, a modification of the first dorsal-fin spine into a fishing pole, usually bearing a distal bilaterally symmetrical glandular structure known as a lure (esca) |
| When the illicium is retracted, the lure is sheltered in a cavity between the mouth and the tip of the snout. | When the illicium is retracted, the lure is sheltered in the illicium cavity between the mouth and the tip of the snout |
| For the Brazilian batfish, whether the lure really attracts prey is still questioned. | Although O. vespertilio apparently uses its illicium to attract prey, this function is still questioned. |
| One filmed in the wild extended and retracted its illicium three times, and a small crustacean in front of it seemed attracted. | extended and retracted its illicium three times, exposing the lure ( Fig. 1 ). Whenever illicium movement was carried out, a small crustacean located in front of the fish seemed attracted. |
| Researchers working on the polka-dot batfish, another relative, reported that its esca apparently secretes a chemical that draws in gastropods | the esca at the tip of the illicium in polka-dot batfish Ogocephalus cubrifrons Richardson, 1836 from Florida (USA) apparently secrete a chemical compound that generates an attraction responses in gastropods |
| Batfishes in its genus, *Ogcocephalus*, swim only short distances. Their pectoral and pelvic fins are built for moving over the seabed, where they slowly "walk". | presenting modified pectoral and pelvic fins for specialized substrate movement, allowing them to slowly “walk” on the bottom, swimming only short distances |
| A fish that walks | allowing them to slowly “walk” on the bottom (note: Genus scope.) |
| A fishing rod in a snout cavity | a modification of the first dorsal-fin spine into a fishing pole (note: Cavity: 'the lure is sheltered in the illicium cavity between the mouth and the tip of the snout'.) |
| Those observations come from relatives, not from the Galápagos species. | an O. vespertilio individual was filmed (note: Scope sentence: the observations are of O. vespertilio and O. cubifrons, not O. darwini.) |
| Batfishes in the red-lipped batfish's genus slowly walk along the bottom on modified fins, swimming only short distances | presenting modified pectoral and pelvic fins for specialized substrate movement, allowing them to slowly “walk” on the bottom, swimming only short distances |

## Briones-Mendoza et al. (2022). New finding and description of the Galapagos batfish, Ogcocephalus darwini (Actinopterygii: Lophiiformes: Ogcocephalidae), in marine waters of Manabi, Ecuador. Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria.

https://doi.org/10.3897/aiep.52.86543

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| A 2022 report described a specimen caught by an artisanal fishing fleet using bottom longlines in Ecuador. | The specimen was captured by the artisanal fishing fleet that operates with bottom longlines in Las Piñas fishing cove, Manta Municipality, Manabí province, Ecuador. (note: 2022 is the article date (23 Sep 2022) on the publisher page: Acta Ichthyologica et Piscatoria 52(3), 2022.) |
| Until that find the species was considered endemic to the Galápagos, though it had already been reported off northern Peru, and the Ecuador fish added the continental shelf. | Until now, the species was considered endemic to the Galapagos, but it had been reported off northern Peru and now from the Ecuadorian continental shelf. |
| Range update | it had been reported off northern Peru and now from the Ecuadorian continental shelf |

## Derouen et al. (2015). Examining evolutionary relationships and shifts in depth preferences in batfishes (Lophiiformes: Ogcocephalidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ympev.2014.12.011

| The page says | The source says |
| :--- | :--- |
| Batfishes are anglerfishes that are dorsoventrally flattened | Batfishes (Ogcocephalidae) are an understudied, group of marine anglerfishes that are dorsoventrally flattened |