Sargassum fish are present; the gills open as pores near the base of the pectoral fins. The anal fin has no spines and seven to 13 soft rays. The pelvic fins are large and the pectoral fins have 9-11 rays and are stalked and able to grip objects. The outer rays of the tail fin are simple, but the central rays are forked. The sargassum fish has a cosmopolitan distribution in tropical and subtropical seas down to a depth around . It is found in parts of the Atlantic Ocean and the Indo-Pacific Ocean, where drifting seaweed accumulates. In the western Atlantic,
Mary Harriet Bate retains 361 of her plant specimens and the collection includes the rare shrub "Myoporum bateae" and the moss "Bryum bateae" named for her. Also there are the moss "Bryum viridulum" as well as the basidiomycete "Trametes heteromalla" , the alga "Sargassum laevigatum" and the tree "Eucalyptus bosistoana". All these were type specimens for the respective species which she collected. Her algal specimens were identified by Jacob Agardh, the fungal specimens by Mordecai Cooke and the bryophytes by Carl Müller. Bate was only one of Mueller's at least 220 female collectors, although she was one of the more prolific of them.