The Gulf bareye tilefish has a sturdy, quadrangular body with a relatively deep head which has a rounded profile and a small mouth extending to the front of the eye.

The dorsal fin has a dark base, whitish middle and wide dusky stripe on the margin.

Its range extends from the Florida Panhandle west and south along the coasts of the United States and Mexico to the Yucatán Peninsula.

[1] The Gulf bareye tilefish is found at depths between 45 and 290 m (148 and 951 ft), typically over mud substrates.

[3] The Gulf bareye tilefish was first formally described in 1936 by the Cuban biologist Luis Howell-Rivero (1899-1986) with the type locality given as Havana.