Main Ref. | Jones, P.W., F.D. Martin and J.D. Hardy Jr., 1978 |
Appearance refers to | |
Bones in OsteoBase |
Specialized organs | no special organs |
Different appearance | |
Different colors | always different colors between mature adults |
Remarks | Females distinguishable from males (about 75% accuracy) by greater intensity and amount of submandibular pigment. |
Striking features | none |
Body shape lateral | elongated |
Cross section | circular |
Dorsal head profile | clearly concave |
Type of eyes | more or less normal |
Type of mouth/snout | other (see remarks) |
Position of mouth | terminal |
Type of scales | cycloid scales |
Diagnosis |
Body robust, long, cylindrical, cross-section almost circular with flattened to slightly concave dorsal surface. Head large, flat, naked on top. Snout short, broad spatulate, dorsal surface between raised orbits and tip of snout slightly convex. Mouth large, horizontal, reaching at least to middle of pupil or suborbital bar. Teeth moderately large, those in front of upper jaw and several along each side of ramus a little enlarged; cheek and opercle fully scaled. Gill rakers are reduced to patches of sharp denticles. Branchiostegal rays: 19-31. Cardioid scales between pelvic fins 6-32, intergrades 0-26; notched scales in a line between dorsal and anal fin origins 7-25, intergrades 1-22. Submandibular pores 3:2 to 6:5, usually 4:4. Pigmentation: Olivaceous to black above; belly pale amber to white, sometimes mottled wit dark; mid-dorsal band from nape to dorsal fin origin inconspicuous and pale. Sides with 20-36 olive to black wavy vertical bars separated by paler extensions of what had been lateral band in young, pale area between adjacent bars narrower. Suborbital and preorbital black bars pronounced, suborbital curved back ventrally, postorbital horizontal; lateral edges of jaws heavily pigmented. Pupil yellow to yellow green, iris gold. Dorsal fin darkly pigmented, others orange to red. |
Ease of Identification | easy to distinguish from other species. |
Lateral Lines | 1 Interrupted: No |
Scales on lateral line | 93 - 124 |
Pored lateral line scales | |
Scales in lateral series | |
Scale rows above lateral line | |
Scale rows below lateral line | |
Scales around caudal peduncle | |
Barbels | |
Gill clefts (sharks/rays only) | |
Gill rakers | |
on lower limb | |
on upper limb | |
total | |
Vertebrae | |
preanal | |
total | 42 - 51 |
Attributes | |
Fins number | 1 |
Finlets No. | Dorsal 0 - 0 |
Ventral 0 - 0 | |
Spines total | 0 - 0 |
Soft-rays total | 13 - 21 |
Adipose fin | absent |
Attributes | forked; more or less normal |
Fins number | 1 |
Spines total | 0 - 0 |
Soft-rays total | 13 - 18 |
Pectoral | Attributes more or less normal |
Spines 0 | |
Soft-rays 8 - 18 | |
Pelvics | Attributes more or less normal |
Position abdominal before origin of D1 | |
Spines 0 | |
Soft-rays 8 - 11 |