Starry handfish

Taxobox
name = Starry handfish

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regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Actinopterygii
ordo = Lophiiformes
familia = Ogcocephalidae
genus = "Halieutaea"
species = "H. stellata"
binomial = "Halieutaea stellata"
binomial_authority = (Vahl, 1797)

The starry handfish, "Halieutaea stellata", is a batfish of the family Ogcocephalidae found on the continental shelves of the Indo-Pacific oceans at depths of between 50 and 400 m. They are up to 30 cm long.

The starry handfish has a flattened, almost circular, head with a small slender body attached. The limb-like jointed pectoral fins are set at the hind corners of the head and are used to "walk" slowly across the bottom. An armour of bony spiny plates protects the upper surface and is broken by the eyes, close together near the front, and the small gill openings, at the rear of the head disc. The mouth and pelvic fins are on the underside of the disc.

Coloration is pale brown-grey above with a reticulated pattern of red-brown. The underside, pectoral fins and pelvic fins are all pink.

References

*
* Tony Ayling & Geoffrey Cox, "Collins Guide to the Sea Fishes of New Zealand", (William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1982) ISBN 0-00-216987-8