Atlantic rubyfish

The Atlantic rubyfish has an oblong, compressed somewhat elongated body with its depth being roughly a quarter of its standard length. It has a large pointed head with a protrusible mouth with the maxilla being broadened and scaled and visible when the mouth is closed. The jaws have a small number of scattered, rather small conical teeth. The rear margin of the operculum has 2 or 3 flattened spines. The lower angle of the preoperculum is rounded and sticks out slightly to the rear as a thin plate and the preoperculum is smooth or has small serrations. The dorsal fin is deeply incised but is not separated into 2 fins and is supported by 11 spines and 11 or 12 soft rays. The anal fin is supported by 3 spines and 9 or 10 soft rays. In larger fish there is a fleshy keel on both sides of the caudal peduncle and the caudal fin has a deep fork. The head and body are covered in fine ctenoid scales and these extend onto the bases of the soft-rayed parts of the dorsal and anal fins and onto the last few rays of those fins. The head and body are silvery red, fading ventrally with reddish to pinkish white fins and a red iris. This species has reached a maximum published total length of 65 cm (26 in), although 40 cm (16 in) is more typical.

The Atlantic rubyfish is found in the eastern and western central Atlantic off the Americas and West Africa. In the Americas it is found from South Carolina in the United States south to the northwestern Bahamas and north central Cuba> Into the Gulf of Mexico where it occurs from offshore of northern Florida and Louisiana, south to the Caribbean Sea from Anguilla south to St. Lucia. In South America it extends along the northern coast from Cartagena, Colombia east to Caracas in Venezuela. In West Africa it is known from Mauritania south to Angola, as well as the Cape Verde Islands and São Tomé and Príncipe. in the Gulf of Guinea. This species is a neritic fish found at depths of 90 to 300 m (300 to 980 ft) with adults being found near the bottom over sand or mud substrates.