| Main Ref. | Randall, J.E., 1996 |
| Appearance refers to | |
| Bones in OsteoBase |
| Specialized organs | |
| Different appearance | |
| Different colors | |
| Remarks |
| Striking features | striking type of mouth |
| Body shape lateral | elongated |
| Cross section | |
| Dorsal head profile | more or less straight |
| Type of eyes | more or less normal |
| Type of mouth/snout | lower jaw greatly elongated |
| Position of mouth | superior |
| Type of scales | |
| Diagnosis |
Diagnosis: body elongate; lower jaw forming long, narrow beak; upper jaw short, triangular and scaled; absence of scales on snout; no preorbital crest between eye and nasal pit; pelvic fins abdominal; dorsal and anal fins placed far back on body and spineless; caudal fin deeply forked (Ref. 57227). Description: fins spineless; pectoral fins long, tips reaching to nasal pits when fins folded forwards; lower lobe caudal fin longer than upper (Ref. 57227). Coloration: back bluish, belly silvery white; beak black with fleshy tip red; upper lobe of caudal fin purple-bluish with tip red; lower lobe bluish (Ref. 57227). |
| 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 | 0 |
| Gill clefts (sharks/rays only) | |
| Gill rakers | |
| on lower limb | 22 - 29 |
| on upper limb | 7 - 10 |
| total | |
| Vertebrae | |
| preanal | |
| total |
| Attributes | no striking attributes |
| Fins number | 1 |
| Finlets No. | Dorsal |
| Ventral | |
| Spines total | 0 - 0 |
| Soft-rays total | 11 - 15 |
| Adipose fin | absent |
| Attributes | forked; asymmetric |
| Fins number | 1 |
| Spines total | 0 - 0 |
| Soft-rays total | 10 - 13 |
| Pectoral | Attributes more or less normal |
| Spines 0 | |
| Soft-rays 10 - 12 | |
| Pelvics | Attributes more or less normal |
| Position abdominal before origin of D1 | |
| Spines 0 | |
| Soft-rays 6 - 6 |