| Main Ref. | Menezes, N.A., S.H. Weitzman and I. Quagio-Grassiotto, 2013 |
| Appearance refers to | |
| Bones in OsteoBase |
| Specialized organs | |
| Different appearance | |
| Different colors | |
| Remarks | Pelvic-fin length, dorsal-fin height and anal-fin lobe length differ between sexes (Ref. 94699). |
| Striking features | |
| Body shape lateral | short and / or deep |
| Cross section | |
| Dorsal head profile | |
| Type of eyes | |
| Type of mouth/snout | |
| Position of mouth | |
| Type of scales | cycloid scales |
| Diagnosis |
This species can be distinguished from its congeners by having the following characters: urogenital papilla present in sexually active males and females (vs. absent in M. pearsoni); urogenital papilla is about equal the length of anal fin-base (vs. half length of anal-fin base in M. drilos); dorsal fin height 13.4-15.8% SL in females and juveniles (vs. 16.1-17.8% SL in M. drilos); and 7 premaxillary tooth cusps (vs. 5 in M. drilos) (Ref. 94699). Description: Dorsal-fin rays ii,7-8; anal-fin rays ii-iii,10-11; pectoral-fin rays i,8-9; pelvic-fin rays i,5,i; 2-3 scale rows from pelvic-fin origin to lateral line (Ref. 94699). |
| Ease of Identification |
| Lateral Lines | Interrupted: No |
| Scales on lateral line | 36 - 38 |
| Pored lateral line scales | 36 - 38 |
| Scales in lateral series | |
| Scale rows above lateral line | 4 - 5 |
| Scale rows below lateral line | |
| Scales around caudal peduncle | 10 - 10 |
| Barbels | |
| Gill clefts (sharks/rays only) | |
| Gill rakers | |
| on lower limb | 12 - 14 |
| on upper limb | 8 - 9 |
| total | |
| Vertebrae | |
| preanal | |
| total | 37 - 39 |
| Attributes | no striking attributes |
| Fins number | 1 |
| Finlets No. | Dorsal |
| Ventral | |
| Spines total | |
| Soft-rays total | 9 - 10 |
| Adipose fin | absent |
| Attributes | forked |
| Fins number | |
| Spines total | |
| Soft-rays total |
| Pectoral | Attributes |
| Spines | |
| Soft-rays 9 - 10 | |
| Pelvics | Attributes |
| Position abdominal before origin of D1 | |
| Spines | |
| Soft-rays 7 - 7 |