The pale toadfish is a rather ugly toadlike fish. large speciemens are look and feel rather like a bowl of jelly on a plate! It has a huge rounded head and a short very tapered body with a small rounded tail. It has large pectoral fins which frame the head. the plevic fins are reduced. The eyes and mouth are fairly small compared to other deepwater fish. These fish have smooth loose scaleless skin which is pale olive with dark spots, the belly is white.

They are bottom living fish found in 350-1000m of water on the continetal slope from the Bay of Islands to the Auckland Islands in the far South.

Ambush predator.

A Treasury of New Zealand Fishes: Graham Collins Guide to the Sea fishes of NZ: Ayling & Cox