sand stargazer
Dactyloscopus tridigitatus Gill, 1859
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
Dactyloscopus tridigitatus, the sand stargazer, is a species of sand stargazer native to the Atlantic coasts of the Americas from Florida, United States to Brazil as well as in the Caribbean Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. It is found in sandy areas around reefs at depths of from 0 to 29 metres (0 to 95 ft). It is an ambush predator, burying itself nearly completely in the sand and attacking prey animals that happen by. It can reach a maximum length of 9 centimetres (3.5 in) TL.
Wikipedia contributors, Dactyloscopus tridigitatus; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T04:17:00.691149+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Dactyloscopus tridigitatus Gill, 1859
- Name authority
- Gill, 1859
- Common name
- sand stargazer
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Blenniiformes
- Family
- Dactyloscopidae
- Genus
- Dactyloscopus
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderBlenniiformes
- familyDactyloscopidae Gill, 1859
- genusDactyloscopus Gill, 1859
- speciesDactyloscopus tridigitatus Gill, 1859
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Dactyloscopus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Dactyloscopus byersorum Dawson, 1969 | DactyloscopidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Dactyloscopus fallax Dawson, 1975 | DactyloscopidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| fringed stargazerDactyloscopus fimbriatus (Reid, 1935) | DactyloscopidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Dactyloscopus lacteus (Myers & Wade, 1946) | DactyloscopidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Dactyloscopus poeyi Gill, 1861 | DactyloscopidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Dactyloscopus zelotes Jordan & Gilbert, 1896 | DactyloscopidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Dactyloscopus heraldi Dawson, 1975 | DactyloscopidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| moonstruck stargazerDactyloscopus lunaticus Gilbert, 1890 | DactyloscopidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| riverine stargazerDactyloscopus amnis Miller & Briggs, 1962 | DactyloscopidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Dactyloscopus boehlkei Dawson, 1982 | DactyloscopidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Dactyloscopus comptus Dawson, 1982 | DactyloscopidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| bigeye stargazerDactyloscopus crossotus Starks, 1913 | DactyloscopidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Dactyloscopus kathetostomus (Carvalho, 1957) (Carvalho, 1957) | synonym |
| Dactyloscopus tridigittatus Gill, 1859 Gill, 1859 | synonym |
| Tamandareia oliveirai Carvalho & Pinto, 1965 Carvalho & Pinto, 1965 | synonym |
| Paragillellus macropoma Carvalho & Pinto, 1965 Carvalho & Pinto, 1965 | synonym |
| Cokeridia kathetostoma Carvalho, 1957 Carvalho, 1957 | synonym |
| Paragillelus macropoma Carvalho & Pinto, 1965 Carvalho & Pinto, 1965 | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- Gill, T. N. (1859). On Dactyloscopus and Leptoscopus, two new genera of the family of Uranoscopidae. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, v. 11: 132–133. Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:33WQN. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.