Red-lipped Batfish (Encyclopedia of Strange Creatures: How Did This Happen? by Takara Tomy A.R.T.S.)

Wow, that is a mouthful of a title, but that is what the set is called! Looking at the paper that came with the figure, it looks to be a collection of natural oddities: a penguin of sorts, koala, parrot of sorts (kakapo?), a horned lizard squirting blood out of its eyes, and the focus of today’s review, the red-lipped batfish, Ogcocephalus darwini. The figure is not indicated at the species level (unless it is Japanese), but given the exaggerated red around the lips, O. darwini is the most-likely candidate.

The red-lipped batfish is an enigmatic fish that lives at dephts of 3.0-76.0 meters off the coast of Peru and the Galapagos, hence its other common name, the Galapagos batfish.

Batfish are members of the order Lophiiformes, the anglerfish, which consists mostly of deep-sea fish with bizarre morphologies. It makes sense the batfish would be related to them!

The figure is just under 4.0 cm long (including the nasal horn) and 3.2 cm at its widest point, making it 1:5-1:6.5 in scale for a maximum sized adult of 25-26 cm. The figure is a solid piece of hard PVC. The dorsal surface is tuberculate. The upper surface is light brown, the venter is white. The eyes are detailed and the nostrils and ‘lips’ are bright red, as to be expected in nature. These fish can ‘walk’ on the sea floor, and this figure is an a walking or resting stance.

The figure has a small acrylic rod on the underside that attaches to its base (see the first pic for the complete ‘diorama’). The back of the base has a placard that I cannot translate. It depicts two crabs, which are part of the natural diet of the red-lipped batfish.

For collectors of unusual species, this figure is a given. They may be hard to find (I found mine on eBay). I am not aware of other figures of this species. The closest thing I could come up with is the starry handfish by AAA.