Alligatorfish maximum total length of 22 centimetres, but more commonly reach a TL of 14.2 cm. The Alligatorfish is preyed on by the Atlantic halibut ("Hippoglossus hippoglossus") and the Pacific halibut ("Hippoglossus stenolepis"). Its own diet consists primarily of benthic crustaceans and bottom fauna. Alligatorfish The Alligatorfish (Aspidophoroides monopterygius, also known commonly as the Aleutian alligatorfish and the Atlantic alligatorfish) is a fish in the family Agonidae (poachers). It was described by Marcus Elieser Bloch in 1786. It is a marine, temperate water-dwelling fish which is known from the northwestern Atlantic Ocean, including western Greenland; Labrador, Canada; and Cape Cod, Massachusetts,
Demersal fish is pointed downwards; this is beneficial as their food is often below them in the substrate. Those bottom feeders with upward-pointing mouths, such as stargazers, tend to seize swimming prey. Benthic fish, sometimes called groundfish, are denser than water, so they can rest on the sea floor. They either lie-and-wait as ambush predators, maybe covering themselves with sand or otherwise camouflaging themselves, or move actively over the bottom in search for food. Benthic fish which can bury themselves include dragonets, flatfish and stingrays. Flatfish are an order of ray-finned benthic fishes which lie flat on the ocean floor. Examples are