| Main Ref. | Bertaco, V.A. and L.R. Malabarba, 2010 |
| Appearance refers to | |
| Bones in OsteoBase |
| Specialized organs | |
| Different appearance | |
| Different colors | |
| Remarks | Males with bony hooks in dorsal, anal, pelvic and pectoral fin rays. Males and females slightly differ in pectoral- and pelvic-fin lengths and body depth and in anal-fin shape, which is slightly concave in males and nearly straight in females. Mature males with gill gland on first gill arch, covering the first branchial filaments (Ref. 85819). |
| Striking features | |
| Body shape lateral | elongated |
| Cross section | compressed |
| Dorsal head profile | |
| Type of eyes | |
| Type of mouth/snout | |
| Position of mouth | |
| Type of scales | cycloid scales |
| Diagnosis |
This species is distinguished from most of its congeners by the number of lateral line scales 44-48 (vs. 39-43 or 48-58). It differs from H. beni, and H. dentatus by the number of branched anal-fin rays (22-27 vs. 15-19 and 28-34, respectively); from H. cairoense by the number of scale rows above lateral line (8-10 vs. 6-7); from H. helleri by the number of scales along anal-fin base scale sheath (17-26 vs. 6-12) and the number of scale rows above lateral line (8-10 vs. 7-8); from H. polyodon by the number of caudal peduncle scales (18-20 vs. 16), head length (22.0-26.0 vs. 20.9-22.9% SL), and upper jaw length (45.2-52.6 vs. 43.7-45.6% HL); from H. raqueliae by the number of predorsal scales (15-19 vs. 10-13) and by the number of cusps of first maxillary tooth (3 vs. 5) (Ref. 85819). |
| Ease of Identification |
| Lateral Lines | Interrupted: No |
| Scales on lateral line | 44 - 48 |
| Pored lateral line scales | |
| Scales in lateral series | |
| Scale rows above lateral line | 8 - 10 |
| Scale rows below lateral line | |
| Scales around caudal peduncle | 18 - 20 |
| Barbels | |
| Gill clefts (sharks/rays only) | |
| Gill rakers | |
| on lower limb | |
| on upper limb | |
| total | |
| Vertebrae | |
| preanal | 20 - 21 |
| total | 42 - 43 |
| Attributes | |
| Fins number | |
| Finlets No. | Dorsal |
| Ventral | |
| Spines total | |
| Soft-rays total | 8 - 8 |
| Adipose fin |
| Attributes |
| Fins number | |
| Spines total | |
| Soft-rays total | 22 - 27 |
| Pectoral | Attributes |
| Spines | |
| Soft-rays 10 - 12 | |
| Pelvics | Attributes |
| Position | |
| Spines | |
| Soft-rays 6 - 7 |