Red-Lipped Batfish: Facts and Where to See It

The red-lipped batfish looks like no other fish on the reef. Its body is light brown and greyish on top with a white belly, a dark stripe of brown dots runs from head to tail, and its lips are a bright, almost fluorescent red, as if it were wearing lipstick.

• Fins as legs. It can swim, but its fins are better suited to walking. The batfish props itself up on them and walks across the sand, or perches and watches its surroundings.
• A built-in lure. A structure on its head called an illicium is thought to draw in prey.
• A snout and a horn. Both are brownish, giving the head its odd, pointed shape.

Red-lipped batfish habitat is the sandy seafloor around the reefs of Galápagos, at depths of 3 to 76 metres, and along reef edges down to about 120 metres. The batfish lives on the bottom and hunts there: it eats small fish and small crustaceans such as shrimps, and molluscs.

It is found nowhere else in the world. Close relatives, other batfishes, live elsewhere, but this species is unique to the waters of Galápagos.

Guide sighting records list the red-lipped batfish at 2 sites, both over sandy ground: Gordon Rocks off Santa Cruz, a dive site, and Punta Vicente Roca on Isabela, where visits include a panga ride and snorkelling. The guides rate both Rare. Because the batfish lives on the bottom, divers have the better chance; snorkellers see it only where the sand is shallow.

Red-lipped batfish can be seen all year round, so no month rules them out. In the next twelve months, 255 departures stop at a site where they are recorded.

No. The red-lipped batfish is listed as Least Concern and faces no direct threats. Warming seas and coral bleaching could change its habitat and reduce its food, and industrial fishing and the pet trade are possible threats. It lives inside the protected Galápagos Marine Reserve, and park rules keep visitors at least 2 metres from wildlife.

1. Looking in open water. The batfish sits on the sand. Watch the bottom, not the blue.
2. Expecting it on a shallow snorkel. It lives mostly from 3 to 76 metres down, so a dive gives the better chance.
3. Kicking up the sand. Good buoyancy keeps the bottom clear and the fish in view.
4. Counting on it. Both sites in the guide records are rated Rare.