| Main Ref. | Lourie, S.A., A.C.J. Vincent and H.J. Hall, 1999 |
| Appearance refers to | |
| Bones in OsteoBase |
| Specialized organs | other |
| Different appearance | always different morphology between mature adults |
| Different colors | |
| Remarks | Males with brood pouch; females with ovipositor (Ref. 205). Body length greater in males (Ref. 52034). |
| Striking features | striking shape of body |
| Body shape lateral | other |
| Cross section | angular |
| Dorsal head profile | |
| Type of eyes | more or less normal |
| Type of mouth/snout | tube-like |
| Position of mouth | terminal |
| Diagnosis |
Description: (based on 53 specimens): Adult height: 5.3-16.0cm. Rings: 11+36 (33-39). Snout length: 2.2-2.3 (2.0-2.4) in head length. Dorsal fin rays: 17-18 (16-20) covering 2+1 rings. Pectoral fin rays: 17 (16-19). Coronet: low-medium with four or five sharp spines. Spines: well-developed, blunt tipped or quite sharp, usually longer on first, fourth, seventh and eleventh trunk rings and with a regular series of longer spines on tail. Other distinctive characters: single or double cheek spines; males with very strongly developed spines bordering pouch (blunt-tipped); no nose spine (or very small); spine in front of coronet not excessively developed. Color pattern: variable; plain, or pale with darker ‘saddles’ across dorsolateral surface and darker cross-bands on tail. |
| 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 | |
| total |
| Attributes | |
| Fins number | 1 |
| Finlets No. | Dorsal 0 - 0 |
| Ventral 0 - 0 | |
| Spines total | 0 - 0 |
| Soft-rays total | 16 - 20 |
| Adipose fin | absent |
| Attributes | other (see remark) |
| Fins number | 1 |
| Spines total | |
| Soft-rays total |
| Pectoral | Attributes used for locomotion |
| Spines 0 | |
| Soft-rays 16 - 19 | |
| Pelvics | Attributes suppressed/absent |
| Position absent | |
| Spines | |
| Soft-rays |