Bathypterois dubius
Bathypterois dubius, the Mediterranean spiderfish, a lizardfish of the family Ipnopidae, is found in the Eastern Atlantic, as well as the Mediterranean and northwest Atlantic. It reaches a length of SL. Like other species in its family, the Mediterranean spiderfish is hermaphroditic. It is solitary in nature and feeds on mysids and copepods.
The common name "Snoutlet crotchfeeler" was coined by D. E. McAllister in his 1990 book, A List of the Fishes of Canada. McAllister created common names for deep-sea fish, which are unlikely to have day-to-day use, and they subsequently appeared in Encyclopedia of Canadian Fishes by Brian W. Coad. In a review of Coad's book, Erling Holm criticized some of the deep-sea fish names coined by McAllister, like canopener smoothdream and doormat parkinglotfish, as "unnecessarily complex, easily misspelled, or downright silly" — and wrote that snoutlet crotchfeeler "violates the tenets of good taste". Holm noted that many of the names coined by McAllister did not meet the criteria set by the Committee on Names of Fish.
B. dubius inhabits the deep sea akin to its congeners, and has been observed at depths of in the Eastern Mediterranean. This habitat may be the reason why its eyes and pineal organs are significantly reduced, which has been compared to the blind cavefish, Typhlichthys subterraneus. In contrast, they have well-developed lateral lines and "voluminous" areas of the brain associated with gustatory functions, which are connected to their pectoral fin rays which may house taste buds. Typical of its genus, it is a sit-and-wait predator, "standing" on its elongated fins which form a tripod. In commercial fishing operations the species is occasionally caught as bycatch, but this may not have a significant impact on its populations, at least in the Northeast Atlantic.