Indian Ocean Crocodilefish

The tentacled flathead has an elongate body with a depressed head with 5 prominent nuchal spines. The ridges on the preoperculum and operculum are smaller dorsally than they are ventrally. There is a spine on the rear of the suborbital ridge which ends with a small spine. There are small spines on the preoperculum. The supraorbital is smooth with a tiny terminal spine, there is one preocular and two parietal spines. The eyes have notable papillae on their upper surfaces. The first dorsal fin has 9 spines and the second dorsal fin and the anal fin each have 11 soft rays. The maximum published total length for this species is 70 cm (28 in), although 50 cm (20 in) is more typical. The body is mottled brownish or greenish dorsally, whitish ventrally. There are 3 or 4 dark bands on the caudal fin and the other fins are marked with large, dark blotches.

The tentacled flathead is found in the western Indian Ocean from northern KwaZulu-Natal and Madagascar to the northern Red Sea. It also occurs in the Mediterranean Sea, having first been reported there off the coast of Israel in 1986, probably having migrated through the Suez Canal. This species occurs near coral reefs on sand or rubble substrates at depths between 1 and 15 m (3 ft 3 in and 49 ft 3 in).

The genus name Papilloculiceps is a combination of papilla ("nipple") and oculus ("eye"), a reference to the small and inconspicuous flattened papilla on the upper surface of the eyeball. The specific name means "long head" and may refer to the flattened, crocodile-like shape of the species' head.