| 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). |
| Striking features | |
| Body shape lateral | other |
| Cross section | |
| Dorsal head profile | |
| Type of eyes | |
| Type of mouth/snout | |
| Position of mouth | |
| Type of scales | bony plates or armour |
| Diagnosis |
Description: (based on 22 specimens): Adult height: 7.9-13.5cm. Rings: 11 + 35 (34-37). Snout length: 1.7-2.0 in head length. Dorsal fin rays: 17 (15-18) covering 2+1 rings. Pectoral fin rays: 18 (17-20). Coronet: medium, with four or five very long, very sharp spines. Spines: extremely long and sharp; all spines well-developed. Other distinctive characters: very long snout (more than 1/2 head length); single cheek spine; dorsal fin base very short; always has at least as many pectoral as dorsal fin rays (whereas most species have more dorsal fin rays); sharp ventral keel; prominent spine in front of coronet. Color pattern: base color variable, including pale pink, yellow or green; spines often dark tipped; may have pale ‘saddles’, often filled with small dark spots, across dorsolateral surfaces; snout not striped. |
| 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 | 15 - 18 |
| Adipose fin | absent |
| Attributes | other (see remark) |
| Fins number | 1 |
| Spines total | 0 - 0 |
| Soft-rays total | 4 - 4 |
| Pectoral | Attributes used for locomotion |
| Spines 0 | |
| Soft-rays 17 - 20 | |
| Pelvics | Attributes suppressed/absent |
| Position absent | |
| Spines | |
| Soft-rays |