Uranoscopidae

northern stargazer

Astroscopus guttatus

Eyes atop head facing upward

• Temperate
• Regional distribution
• Marine fish
• Atlantic Ocean
• North America
• Large
• Temperate fish

Astroscopus guttatus or the northern stargazer is a species of fish belonging to the Uranoscopidae family and was first described by Charles Conrad Abbott in 1860. Members of the Uranoscopidae family are characterized by dorsally or dorsolaterally directed eyes placed on or near the top of a large, flattened cuboid head, an oblique to vertical mouth often lined with cutaneous cirri, and an elongated, sub-compressed body. Typically found on the Atlantic shores between the states of North Carolina and New York in the United States, the northern stargazer can sometimes be confused with its sister species the southern stargazer, Astroscopus y-graecum.