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The fangtooth has a short deep body with a large head and mouth. The body is covered with small prickly scales. The distinct lateral line is an open groove partially covered by scales. There are mucous cavities on the head separated by serrated ridges. As the common name suggests, this fish has very long pointed teeth. The lower jaw fangs slide into pockets in the roof of the mouth when the jaws close.

This species is dark brown to black.

Adults and juveniles look very different. Juveniles have long head spines and are light grey. They don't begin to look like adults until they reach about 8cm in length. Adults and juveniles look so different they were described as a different species in the 1800s.

The Fangtooth grows to 17cm in length.

Juveniles eat crustaceans and adults eat fishes.

This species occurs in bathypelagic (glossary) and mesopelagic (glossary) depths down to 4992m. It most common between 500m and 2000m, in temperate marine waters worldwide.

In Australia it is known from off central to southern New South Wales.

View a map of the collecting localities of specimens in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.

A second species in the genus Anoplogaster was described using seven juveniles (20mm to 60mm SL) in 1986. A.brachycera differs from the Fangtooth by a combination of characters including less dorsal fin rays (16 to 17 versus 17 to 19), shorter head spines (brachycera is derived from Greek and means "short-horned", and differences in the growth of the fangs and scales.