The pancake batfish was first formally described in 1818 as Lophius aculeatus by the American naturalist Samuel Mitchill with the original type locality given as the Strait of Bahamas, with a neotype later being designated "from 32°28'N, 78°47'09"W, about 92.4 kilometers at 107° off Off Charleston Light, South Carolina, USA".

Poey's H. reticulatus is now considered to be a synonym of Mitchill's L. aculeatus, and is the type species of its genus by monotypy.

[6] The family Ogcocephalidae is classified in the monotypic suborder Ogcocephaloidei within the order Lophiiformes, the anglerfishes in the 5th edition of Fishes of the World.

The specific name, aculeatus, means "spined" or "sharply pointed", an allusion to the prickly back and edge of the disc.

[8] The pancake batfish has a flattened head and body which are widened into a rounded disc, with a moderately long tail.

The mouth is very small, as is the illicial cavity on the snout which is covered by puffy, membranous folds.

[2] The pancake batfish is found in the western Atlantic Ocean where it has been recorded from Cape Hatteras in North Carolina southwards along southeastern coast of the United States to the northwestern Bahamas.