Common Name
Plain Armored Searobin
Year Described
Gunther, 1880
Identification
Dorsal Fin: VIII, 18-19
Anal Fin: 18-19
Pectoral Fin: 12 + 2 free rays
Gill Rakers: 4-5+20-23
Body elongate and flattened ventrally, with four rows of thick, heavy scales forming an armor-like covering. Head very wide tapering abruptly into a thin rear body posterior to pectoral base. Head with flattened duck-bill snout about the width of eyes and squared-off at tip. Rostral projections moderately long (around half snout length), robust, and almost parallel. Head heavily armored. Edges of snout and head with spines and serrations. Edge of head expanded laterally on the cheek into a large triangular opercular spine. Eye large. Interorbital distance relatively wide. Anterior edge of first body plate posterior to pelvic girdle. 5-6 short lip barbels. Chin barbels present (17-20 in several clusters); extending beyond edge of head. One pair of barbels longer and heavily branched. Dorsal fins separated: the first small and second long-based. Anal fin about the same length as dorsal fin. Pectoral fins small 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
Body uniformly pale pink to reddish with no markings. Belly whitish. First dorsal fin with red to black band. Second dorsal fin with two rows of dark red to black spots. Pectoral fin red with a dark margin. Pelvic fin whitish. Caudal fin red. Eye body colored.
Size
Maximum size to 19cm SL.
Habitat
Found on soft bottoms from 155-910m.
Range
New England to S. Brazil, including the Gulf of Mexico and 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.