Common Name
Slender Armored Searobin
Year Described
Goode & Bean, 1896
Identification
Dorsal Fin: VIII, 20
Anal Fin: 20-21
Pectoral Fin: 12 + 2 free rays
Gill Rakers:
Body elongate and flattened ventrally, with four rows of thick, heavy scales forming an armor-like covering. Body rectangular. Head quite slender with head not being much wider than body at anus. Head with long, flattened duck-bill snout about the width of eyes and squared-off at tip. Rostral projections very long (almost snout length), thin, and slightly divergent. Head heavily armored. Edges of snout and head smooth. Edge of head narrow with not much of a bony shelf. Edge of head ending in a sharp spine. Eye moderate. Interorbital distance wide. No spines at snout base or at nostril. Five short lip barbels in two clusters. There are 26-36 short chin barbels in seven clusters. Longest barbels do not reach beyond head margin. Dorsal fins separated: the first small and second long-based. Anal fin about the same length as dorsal fin. Pectoral fins moderate and fan-like with two long free rays that are used to interact/crawl along the seafloor. Pelvic fins small and widely separated under pectoral base. Caudal fin truncate.
Color
Head and body whitish with red blotches and marbling and golden yellow spots and blotches. Sometimes has indistinct banding, especially on rear body. Belly whitish. Pectoral fins reddish, yellow, or greenish, darkening distally with a thin white edge. Dorsal fin with median red stripe. Caudal fin pale basally and red distally. Eye yellow.
Size
Maximum size to 20cm SL.
Habitat
Found on soft bottoms from 29-940m
Range
New England to Suriname, including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean.
References
Miller, G.C. & W.J. Richards. 2003. Peristediidae. Armoured searobins (armoured gurnards). p. 1278-1285. In: K.E. Carpenter (ed.) FAO species identification guide for fishery purposes. The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Vol. 2: Bony fishes part 1 (Acipenseridae to Grammatidae).
Teague, G.W. 1961. The armored sea-robins of America, a revision of the American species of the family Peristediidae. Anales del Museo Nacional de Historia Natural de Montevideo (Serie 2) v. 7 (no. 2): 1-27, 2 pls. + Pls. 1-3.