tilefish, common name for a superior and brilliantly colored food fish of temperate and tropical waters, marked by fleshy flaps on the top of the head and at the corners of the mouth. It is a bottom feeder reaching 3 ft (91 cm) in length and 35 lb (15.8 kg) in weight. Since it thrives only at depths of 50 to 100 fathoms (300-600 ft/91-182 m) and temperatures of about 50°F; (10°C;), it is thought that the curious and dramatic fluctuations in its abundance are caused by shifting currents of varying temperatures. The common Atlantic tilefish is Lopholatilus chamaeleonticeps. Tilefishes are classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Vertebrata, class Osteichthyes, order Perciformes, family Branchiostegidae.

or blanquillo

Any of 24 species (family Branchiostegidae, or Malacanthidae) of slender marine fishes found in shallow tropical and warm temperate seas. Tilefish are used as food, especially the large Lopholatilus chamaeleonticeps, a deepwater fish of the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico with a fleshy appendage on the head and yellow spots on its upper body and some of its fins. Tilefish have a large oblique mouth with strong canines and one rather long dorsal fin with weak spines.

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