| Main Ref. | Cervigón, F., 1994 |
| Appearance refers to | Male; Female |
| Bones in OsteoBase |
| Specialized organs | no special organs |
| Different appearance | |
| Different colors | different colors during breeding season only |
| Remarks | Males display distinct colors during breeding presumably to attract mates and advertise territory (Ref. 43466). |
| Striking features | |
| Body shape lateral | fusiform / normal |
| Cross section | |
| Dorsal head profile | |
| Type of eyes | |
| Type of mouth/snout | |
| Position of mouth | |
| Type of scales | |
| Diagnosis |
Diagonal transverse row of cirri on a fleshy base on upper posterior part of each side of head; with 4 irregular dark brown bars; pale edged black spot on opercle; often a dark spot at front of dorsal fin; adult males with red on lower part of head, chest and abdomen (Ref. 13442). Robust, with a sharply pointed or sub obtuse head. Anterior nare is tubular and with an apical lid that prevents the penetration of sand particles (Ref. 94108). |
| Ease of Identification |
| Lateral Lines | Interrupted: No |
| Scales on lateral line | 65 - 67 |
| 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 | 10 - 13 |
| Vertebrae | |
| preanal | |
| total | 11 - 13 |
| Attributes | |
| Fins number | 1 |
| Finlets No. | Dorsal 0 - 0 |
| Ventral 0 - 0 | |
| Spines total | 18 - 19 |
| Soft-rays total | 11 - 13 |
| Adipose fin | absent |
| Attributes | more or less truncate; more or less normal |
| Fins number | 1 |
| Spines total | 2 - 2 |
| Soft-rays total | 18 - 19 |
| Pectoral | Attributes more or less normal |
| Spines 0 | |
| Soft-rays 13 - 14 | |
| Pelvics | Attributes |
| Position jugular beneath origin of D1 | |
| Spines | |
| Soft-rays |