The Crato Formation is located in the Araripe Basin in Northeastern Brazil, where the Ceara and Pernambuco provinces meet. It is considered Aptian (Early Cretaceous) in age and specimens of Dastilbe occur at many localities in the region of Nova Olinda. Nearly all derive from the Nova Olinda Member, which is the lowest member of the Crato Formation. Dastilbe, a gonorynchiform fish placed within recent Chanidae, has been used as a catchall for small fossil fish specimens for quite some time. The type species of Dastilbe, D. crandalli, was described by Jordan in 1910 from the Early Cretaceous of Riacho Doce, Brazil. More recent studies of Dastilbe are based on the material from the Crato Formation, but detailed morphological descriptions of the skull and postcranial features were lacking. More than 400 specimens from the Crato Formation and Riacho Doce are examined to establish the morphology and emend the diagnosis of Dastilbe crandalli. Two other species were contained in the genus: D. elongatus from Brazil and D. batai from Africa. D. elongatus is synonymous with the type species. D. batai resembles Parachanos and probably belongs to that genus. D. moraesi from a Brazilian locality further south in the Minas Gerais province is known too poorly to allow for comparisons.