| Main Ref. | Kuiter, R.H. and T. Tonozuka, 2001 |
| 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 | eel-like |
| Cross section | |
| Dorsal head profile | |
| Type of eyes | |
| Type of mouth/snout | tube-like |
| Position of mouth | terminal |
| Type of scales | |
| Diagnosis |
Uniform light cream for the type material of West Indian Ocean species; the west Pacific form has a banded pattern (Ref. 48635). Description: Characterized by head, trunk and tail with numerous diffuse brown bars; absence of anal fin; 10 caudal rays; rings 12-14 + 56-60; continuous superior trunk and tail ridges; inferior trunk ridge ends at anal ring; confluent lateral trunk ridge with inferior tail ridge; length of snout 2.3-4.0 in head length; depth of snout 1.2-3.4 in snout length; head length 12.4-17.6 in SL (Ref. 90102). |
| 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 | |
| Finlets No. | Dorsal |
| Ventral | |
| Spines total | |
| Soft-rays total | 27 - 33 |
| Adipose fin |
| Attributes |
| Fins number | |
| Spines total | |
| Soft-rays total |
| Pectoral | Attributes |
| Spines | |
| Soft-rays 11 - 13 | |
| Pelvics | Attributes suppressed/absent |
| Position absent | |
| Spines | |
| Soft-rays |