| Main Ref. | Holleman, W., 2007 |
| Appearance refers to | |
| Bones in OsteoBase |
| Specialized organs | |
| Different appearance | |
| Different colors | |
| Remarks |
| Striking features | |
| Body shape lateral | elongated |
| Cross section | |
| Dorsal head profile | |
| Type of eyes | |
| Type of mouth/snout | |
| Position of mouth | |
| Type of scales | |
| Diagnosis |
Diagnosis: Dorsal fin III + XIII+ 10, second fin twice height of first; anal fin I + 18-19; pectoral rays 15 (East Africa: 1+7+7, Seychelles: 2+7+6 or 1+8+6); pelvic fin I, 2, spine short and hidden, segmented rays simple, partially united by membrane. Vertebrae 10 + 24-27. LL total lateral scales 36-38; tubed 19-23 (21) scales; transverse 9/7; nape, and dorsal and anal-fin base scaleless, caudal fin base with 2 rows of scales. Mandibular pores 4-7+3+4-7. Orbital cirrus small, pointed. Head length 3.9 (Seychelles) or 3.0 (East Africa) in SL; eye 3.0; maxilla 2.4 in HL. Significant morphological character variation between Seychelles and East Africa specimens, in addition to mentioned above they also differ in mean head length. Live males brown with three narrow white saddle marks on body and with lower half of head black (Ref. 75031). |
| Ease of Identification |
| Lateral Lines | Interrupted: No |
| Scales on lateral line | 36 - 38 |
| 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 | 10 - 10 |
| total | 34 - 37 |
| Attributes | |
| Fins number | 3 |
| Finlets No. | Dorsal |
| Ventral | |
| Spines total | 16 - 17 |
| Soft-rays total | 10 - 11 |
| Adipose fin | absent |
| Attributes | more or less truncate |
| Fins number | 1 |
| Spines total | 1 - 1 |
| Soft-rays total | 18 - 20 |
| Pectoral | Attributes |
| Spines | |
| Soft-rays 15 - 15 | |
| Pelvics | Attributes |
| Position thoracic | |
| Spines 1 | |
| Soft-rays 2 - 2 |