Commercial fishing boats occasionally catch lizard fish, but they are too bony for consumption.
A lizard fish is a fish in the family Synodontidae. These fish get their name from their distinctly toothed appearance, which is quite lizard-like, especially when combined with the cylindrical bodies of many species of lizard fish. Two other families of fish, Pseudotrichonotidae and Bathysauridae, are also known colloquially as lizard fish. Both families are very small and their range is more limited than that of the true lizardfish.
The true lizardfish has a number of similar physical characteristics in the more than 40 species found in the family Synodontidae. Their mouths are very large and full of sharp teeth and are equipped with pectoral and pelvic fins below and dorsal and adipose fins above. The tails of these fish are deeply forked. In color, the fish can be greenish, brown, grayish, or cream, depending on the species and the waters in which they live. They are heavily spotted and spotted, which allows them to camouflage themselves in different environments.
Lizardfish prefer temperate to warm waters and are bottom dwellers, found in coastal waters at relatively shallow depths. The fish take advantage of their coloration to blend in with the ocean floor and have been known to burrow into sand and silt deposits to hide from both potential prey and predators. The largest species of lizard can be up to 60 centimeters long. The mating habits of these fish vary by species, and some carry live young.
These fish are very active hunters that stalk and attack their prey. When successful in catching prey, the fish will take a break from hunting to eat and rest before resuming hunting activities. They are generally not dangerous to larger animals such as humans, although they can sometimes be encountered by swimmers and divers who have bothered teeth. Although people occasionally catch fish on fishing trips and commercial fishing boats, they are usually discarded because they are too bony to be a good food source.
Bathysauridae are deep sea dwellers. They are found in much deeper water than true lizardfish, and although they share some physical characteristics, they tend to be lighter in color, like many organisms designed to live in very deep water. The Pseudotrichonotidae are small relatives found exclusively in the southeastern regions of the Pacific Ocean. They are known as sand-diving or sand-dwelling lizardfish, a reference to the fact that these bottom dwellers prefer to inhabit sandy environments.