^... :' ■•^ '. ,.^'-'^^' 308 



from dorsal fin to caudal peduncle. Chin and throat gently curved, giving the head a 

 roughly triangular appearance. Belly typically rounded or swollen to anal-fin origin. 

 Ventral profile of trunk angled upward to relatively narrow caudal peduncle. 

 Morphometries of the species are summarized in Table 23. Frequencies of meristic 



counts are in parentheses in the following description, and the values for the 



»,■-■■-■■.. •--■ ■'< ■ -■ ■ 

 holotype are denoted with asterisks. ' ■ 



Mouth subterminal, the upper jaw extending beyond the lower by width of 

 the premaxillary tooth patch. Gape moderately wide, parabohc and slightly pointed 

 at tip of snout in ventral profile. Premaxillary tooth patch relatively narrow, teeth 

 long, setiform. Dentary tooth patch similar to that on premaxillary, except 

 symphysis of dentaries with a prominent upturned knob that is concealed just behind 

 anterior tip of premaxillaries when the mouth is closed. Gill membranes fused to 

 isthmus at plane passing through rear margin of orbits. Branchiostegal rays 10* (9) 

 or 11 (1). Gill rakers relatively short and conical; 3-4 rakers in outer row of first 

 epibranchial, 15-19 rakers on ceratobranchial, total gill rakers 19 (1), 21* (3), 22 (1), 

 23 (1), or 24 (1). Skin on top of head relatively thick, smooth; bones on top of head 

 (especially the frontals and supraoccipital) textured with weak ridges. Nuchal plate 

 relatively narrow, with slightly convex lateral margins. Anterior nares posterolateral 

 to tips of mesethmoid; posterior nares remote from anterior pair, at margins of 

 frontals. " ■ ■■>-" 



Swimbladder of adults forming a small, pyriform bulb encapsulated by 

 superficial ossification of the complex centra (Fig. 21e). 



Caudal fin weakly forked to strongly emarginate, with distal tip of each lobe 

 broadly rounded, asymmetrical, and the upper lobe longer and narrower than the 

 lower lobe. Principal caudal-fin rays 8 + 9, with about 21-25 upper and 19-21 lower 

 procurrent rays. 



