Sargassum fish it ranges from the Gulf of Maine south to Uruguay. It has been reported from northern Norway, but that sighting is likely to be as a result of its having been carried along by the North Atlantic Current. The sargassum fish is a voracious ambush predator that is also a cannibal. One individual was dissected and found to have 16 juveniles in its stomach. It stalks its prey among the tangled weeds, relying on its cryptic camouflage for concealment. It can clamber through and cling to the seaweed stalks with its prehensile pectoral fins. It dangles its esca as a
Sargassum and "S. fluitans") have become holopelagic—reproducing vegetatively and never attaching to the seafloor during their lifecycles. The Atlantic Ocean's Sargasso Sea was named after the algae, as it hosts a large amount of "Sargassum". "Sargassum" was named by the Portuguese sailors who found it in the Sargasso Sea after the wooly rock rose ("Halimium lasianthum") that grew in their water wells at home, and that was called "sargaço" in Portuguese (). The Florida Keys and its smaller islands are well known for their high levels of "Sargassum" covering their shores. Gulfweed was observed by Columbus. Although it was formerly thought