[4] The bigtooth cardinalfish lives in the west-central Atlantic, off southern Florida, United States, and from the Bahamas to Venezuela, and as far south as Suriname.

The dorsal surface is a translucent salmon, orange or bronze colour, and the underside of head and body are silvery.

In the west, its range extends from northeastern Florida southwards and westwards to the Bahamas and the Gulf of Mexico, and from Mexico to northwestern Cuba, the Caribbean Sea, Venezuela, Suriname and along the coast of South America to Ilha Itaparica, Brazil.

Breeding takes place throughout the year, with a male and female forming a pair bond before spawning.

It is however vulnerable to predation by the invasive red lionfish (Pterois volitans) in the Caribbean region; this is a voracious venomous species which feeds at night and swallows fish the size of the bigtooth cardinalfish whole.