The fringed filefish is a laterally flattened fish with a deeply keeled body and a dewlap on the underside.

The colour of the fish varies with the surroundings, being greenish in seagrass meadows and brown or tan on reefs or in sandy areas.

[2] The fringed filefish is found in shallow parts of the western Atlantic Ocean between Newfoundland and Argentina, in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.

It feeds on algae and seagrass and picks off the seabed small invertebrates, such as shrimps, amphipods, isopods, ostracods, polychaete worms and molluscs.

[1][3] One male fringed filefish is usually associated with several females, which lay eggs in scoops in the sand or in other concealed places.