| Main Ref. | Girard, M.G., H.J. Carter and G.D. Johnson, 2023 |
| Appearance refers to | |
| Bones in OsteoBase |
| Specialized organs | |
| Different appearance | |
| Different colors | |
| Remarks |
| Striking features | |
| Body shape lateral | |
| Cross section | oval |
| Dorsal head profile | |
| Type of eyes | |
| Type of mouth/snout | |
| Position of mouth | |
| Type of scales | |
| Diagnosis |
This species is distinguished by the following characters: weak, flap-like spines on preopercle; downward-sloped dorsal profile between eye and origin of the dorsal fin in adulta; differs from other species in the M. nigripinnis species group occurring in the Pacific by the numbers of dorsal-fin rays 105 (vs. 94-103 in M. garmani, 96-99 in M. malispinosus), anal-fin rays 92 (vs. 76-87 in M. garmani; 81-84 in M. malispinosus), pectoral-fin rays 35 (vs. 28-32 in M. garmani; 26-29 in M. malispinosus) and smaller ratio of eye diameter relative to head length 4-4 (vs. 4.6-5.6 in M. garmani; 4.6-4.9 in M. malispinosus) (Ref. 131527). |
| 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 | 12 - 12 |
| total | 62 - 62 |
| Attributes | |
| Fins number | |
| Finlets No. | Dorsal |
| Ventral | |
| Spines total | |
| Soft-rays total | 105 - 105 |
| Adipose fin |
| Attributes |
| Fins number | |
| Spines total | |
| Soft-rays total | 92 - 92 |
| Pectoral | Attributes |
| Spines | |
| Soft-rays 35 - 35 | |
| Pelvics | Attributes |
| Position | |
| Spines | |
| Soft-rays 1 - 1 |