Main identification features
- 6 brown bars + flank stripe
- d: black and white blotch at front
Dorsal rays XI, 15-17; anal rays III, 15-17; pectoral rays 21; 1-2 teeth at front of roof of mouth; gill rakers on first arch 30-37; a multi-branched cirrus at front nostril; body with 83-112 oblique scale rows; rear end of top jawbone straight, no extension in male; upper jaw 71.1-80.0% of head length; lips without inner papillae; a broad flap under opercle.
Whitish or pale tan; body with six irregular brown bars, the middle portion of bars somewhat expanded and may coalese to form a longitudinal stripe; six large brown blotches, corresponding with each bar, on back and extending on to dorsal fin; a prominent black spot on distal part of first three dorsal spines and a nearly equal sized white patch immediately below; no obvious color inside mouth.
Size: reaches at least 16 cm.
Inhabits sand-rubble areas.
Depth: 5-15 m.
Galapagos Islands and the coast of Costa Rica.
Attributes
Abundance: Common.
Cites: Not listed.
Climate Zone: Equatorial (Costa Rica to Ecuador + Galapagos, Clipperton, Cocos, Malpelo).
Depth Range Max: 15 m.
Depth Range Min: 5 m.
Diet: bony fishes; mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs); mobile benthic gastropods/bivalves.
Eastern Pacific Range: Northern limit=9; Southern limit=-2; Western limit=-93; Eastern limit=-84; Latitudinal range=11; Longitudinal range=9.
Egg Type: Brooded; Pelagic larva.
Feeding Group: Carnivore.
FishBase Habitat: Demersal.
Global Endemism: Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP) endemic; East Pacific endemic; All species.
Habitat: Reef associated (reef + edges-water column & soft bottom); Sand & gravel; Soft bottom (mud, sand,gravel, beach, estuary & mangrove); Soft bottom only.
Inshore Offshore: Inshore; Inshore Only.
IUCN Red List: Not evaluated / Listed.
Length Max: 16 cm.
Regional Endemism: Island (s); Continent; Continent + Island (s); TEP endemic; All species.
Residency: Resident.
Salinity: Marine; Marine Only.
Water Column Position: Bottom; Bottom only;
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- Allen , G.R. and Robertson, D.R., 1991., Quatre especes nouvelles d'Opisthognathidae (Jawfishes) du Pacifique oriental tropical., Revue Francaise de Aquariologie, 18(2):47-52.
- Bussing, W.A and Lavenberg, R.J., 2003., Four new species of eastern tropical Pacific jawfishes (Opistognathus: Opistognathidae)., Rev. Biol. Trop., 51:529-550.
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