Eye small, 11 to 16 % of head length; snout bluntly rounded; no barbel on chin; teeth differentiated into large and small in both jaws; gill rakers slender, about half the length of gill filaments at angle of arch, 10 to 13 on lower limb. Second anal spine long, stiff, 45 to 54 % of head length. Scales on head and throat cycloid (smooth). Swim bladder hammer-shaped, with about 12 pairs of arborescent appendages along its sides, the first entering head and sending a palmate branch to the front of the pectoral arch. Sagitta (large earstone) with a tadpole-shaped impression, the head of which has its long axis lying obliquely to that of sagitta and the tail expanded and deepened as a hallow cone connected with the head by a narrow groove.