Dactyloscopidae

sand stargazer

Dactyloscopus tridigitatus

Burying in sand to ambush prey

• Tropical
• Southern Hemisphere
• Regional distribution
• Marine fish
• Atlantic Ocean
• Central America and the Caribbean
• North America
• South America
• Elongated
• Small
• Tropical fish

Dactyloscopus tridigitatus, the sand stargazer, is a species of sand stargazer native to the Atlantic coasts of the Americas from Florida, United States to Brazil as well as in the Caribbean Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. It is found in sandy areas around reefs at depths of from 0 to 29 metres (0 to 95 ft). It is an ambush predator, burying itself nearly completely in the sand and attacking prey animals that happen by.