| Main Ref. | Lourie, S.A., A.C.J. Vincent and H.J. Hall, 1999 |
| 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 (shape guide) | other |
| Cross section | |
| Dorsal head profile | |
| Type of eyes | |
| Type of mouth/snout | |
| Position of mouth | |
| Type of scales | |
| Diagnosis |
Description: (based on 8 specimens): Adult height: 11.0-13.0cm. Rings: 11+38-39. Snout length: 2.1 (1.9-2.4) in head length. Dorsal fin rays: 18-19 covering 2+1 rings. Pectoral fin rays: 17-18. Coronet: low-medium with four very long sharp spines. Spines: very long and sharp; no spines on alternate tail rings. Other distinctive characters: double cheek spine (usually); double spine below eye; very long, sharp spine in front of coronet and above eye. Color pattern: pale cream or beige colored; often with a pattern of large white spots on body and face; spines with a broad dark band near tip; dark mid-ventral line. |
| 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 | 1 |
| Finlets No. | Dorsal 0 - 0 |
| Ventral 0 - 0 | |
| Spines total | 0 - 0 |
| Soft-rays total | 18 - 19 |
| Adipose fin | absent |
| Attributes | other (see remark) |
| Fins number | 1 |
| Spines total | |
| Soft-rays total |
| Pectoral | Attributes used for locomotion |
| Spines 0 | |
| Soft-rays 17 - 18 | |
| Pelvics | Attributes suppressed/absent |
| Position absent | |
| Spines | |
| Soft-rays |