| Main Ref. | Woodland, D.J., 1990 |
| Appearance refers to | Male; Female |
| Bones in OsteoBase |
| Specialized organs | |
| Different appearance | |
| Different colors | |
| Remarks |
| Striking features | striking type of mouth |
| Body shape lateral (shape guide) | short and / or deep |
| Cross section | compressed |
| Dorsal head profile | clearly concave |
| Type of eyes | more or less normal |
| Type of mouth/snout | more or less normal |
| Position of mouth | terminal |
| Type of scales | cycloid scales |
| Diagnosis |
A dark chocolate ocular band running in an arc from base of 1st dorsal spine to chin; a narrow white blaze on midline of head profile; thorax dark chocolate; a broad white zone behind ocular bar on trunk; remainder of body yellow-orange. Stout, pungent, venomous spines. Caudal fin only slightly incised. Fully scaled midline of thorax. Preopercular angle 119° (111°-120°). Variable cheek scaling; usually overlapping scales, 8-10 rows deep below center of orbit; occasionally, few scattered scales; area fully scaled from lower edge of orbit 2 angle of mouth. S. vulpinus is very closely related to and possibly the same as S. unimaculatus, which has a large black blotch on the sides beneath the soft dorsal rays (Ref. 37816). |
| Ease of Identification |
| Lateral Lines | 1 Interrupted: No |
| Scales on lateral line | |
| Pored lateral line scales | |
| Scales in lateral series | |
| Scale rows above lateral line | 16 - 20 |
| Scale rows below lateral line | |
| Scales around caudal peduncle | |
| Barbels | 0 |
| Gill clefts (sharks/rays only) | |
| Gill rakers | |
| on lower limb | 17 - 19 |
| on upper limb | 4 - 5 |
| total | 21 - 24 |
| Vertebrae | |
| preanal | 10 - 10 |
| total | 13 - 13 |
| Attributes | extending over most of the back length |
| Fins number | 1 |
| Finlets No. | Dorsal |
| Ventral | |
| Spines total | 13 - 13 |
| Soft-rays total | 10 - 10 |
| Adipose fin | absent |
| Attributes | forked; more or less normal |
| Fins number | 1 |
| Spines total | 7 - 7 |
| Soft-rays total | 9 - 9 |
| Pectoral | Attributes more or less normal |
| Spines 0 | |
| Soft-rays 16 - 17 | |
| Pelvics | Attributes more or less normal |
| Position thoracic behind origin of D1 | |
| Spines 2 | |
| Soft-rays 3 - 3 |