I want to offer some ink to one of our oddest marine species, a fish seen by many as the ugliest thing in our nearshore waters. I’m speaking of the northern stargazer, a bottom-borrowing creature that is mainly head and mouth, with alarmingly beady little eyes that seem to be looking upward for trouble. It lies partially buried in the sand waiting for anything edible it can get its gaping mouth around. Its spooky countenance has become more common in recent LBI years. Many an angler knows the look.
Stargazers have one of the cooler scientific names:Astroscopus guttatus.
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