The Sargassum Fish is unscaled and (unusually for a frogfish) as a consequence has skin that is smooth rather than sandpapery. Its color is variable and changeable, depending on the amount of light and the mood of the fish. It is typically boldly patterned with mahogany brown on a yellowish to olive background, its mottled pattern helping it blend in with the Sargassum Weed in which it lives, but it may be almost black or predominantly yellow with dark spots and blotches. It has many fleshy tabs, the largest on the chin and belly. Its "lure" is a fleshy bulb with filaments attached to a short "pole". The lure is formed by the first dorsal spine; the second and third dorsal spines are large, depressible, and covered with skin bearing fleshy cirri (fingerlike protuberances). (Robins and Ray 1986).