| Main Ref. | Collette, B.B., 2001 |
| Appearance refers to | |
| Bones in OsteoBase |
| Specialized organs | |
| Different appearance | |
| Different colors | |
| Remarks |
| Striking features | |
| Body shape lateral | elongated |
| Cross section | oval |
| Dorsal head profile | more or less straight |
| Type of eyes | more or less normal |
| Type of mouth/snout | |
| Position of mouth | |
| Type of scales | |
| Diagnosis |
Narrow interorbital distance (29-65 thousandths of SL), usually less than the diameter of the orbit (60-104 thousandths of SL), versus usually equal to or wider than the orbit diameter in other Opsanus species. Similar to O. phobetron, both usually have the posterior part of lower half of the mouth darkly pigmented in specimens over 7 cm SL. Upper lateral-line papillae 26, lower 23. Pectoral fin glands 12, starting between uppermost 2 pectoral fin-rays (Ref. 41041). |
| Ease of Identification |
| Lateral Lines | Interrupted: No |
| Scales on lateral line | |
| 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 | 32 - 35 |
| Attributes | |
| Fins number | 2 |
| Finlets No. | Dorsal |
| Ventral | |
| Spines total | 3 - 3 |
| Soft-rays total | 23 - 26 |
| Adipose fin |
| Attributes |
| Fins number | |
| Spines total | |
| Soft-rays total | 20 - 22 |
| Pectoral | Attributes |
| Spines | |
| Soft-rays 17 - 19 | |
| Pelvics | Attributes |
| Position | |
| Spines | |
| Soft-rays |