Common Name
Horned Searobin
Year Described
Goode & Bean, 1896
Identification
Dorsal Fin: X-XI, 11
Anal Fin: 9-10
Pectoral Fin: 12
Lateral Line: 33-37
Gill Rakers: 11-15 (lower limb)
Body stout but elongate and slightly compressed rearward. Head is large, bony, and heavily sculptured with pronounced ridges and spines. Head relatively deep with very large protruding eyes. Duck-billed snout is short. Snout with long leaf-like spiny projections projecting beyond upper jaw. Spines around nostrils. Mouth is subterminal and small in size, containing bands of villiform teeth on the jaws, vomer, and palatines. Jaw falls short of anterior orbit. No spine in front of eyes. No cirri behind eyes. Preopercle and opercle usually bear strong spines. Preopercular spine with prominent basal spine. Preopercular spine reaches edge of opercle but is not longer than opercular spine. Cleithral spine longer than opercular spine. Moderate fan-like pectoral fins with strongly branched rays, with the lower three rays free, thickened, and separate from the fin membrane. Pectoral fin viewed from above broadly rounded. Pectorals when folded reach posterior third of anal fin base. Two dorsal fins: one spiny and one soft rays. First two dorsal spines filamentous in males. Anal fin opposite soft dorsal fin. Caudal fin is truncate. Pelvic fin underneath pectoral fin on belly. Body covered in small ctenoid scales with the exception of the naked posterior ventral surface. Chest scaled. Nape and opercular membrane naked. Lateral line is continuous.
Color
Dorsum and head pale brown with dense red spotting. Spots and and elongated blotches become much larger on flanks and lower cheeks. Belly white. Eye red and white. Spiny dorsal fin pale with red spots and a dark spot between spines 4-5. Soft dorsal with three yellow to reddish bands. Pectoral fin reddish to golden with brown banding across the posterior rays. Anal fin white with a red base. Pelvic fin reddish and white. Tail with three golden to reddish stripes and a red lower lobe. Juveniles more cryptically colored with a bright blue dorsal spot.
Size
Maximum size to 16cm SL.
Habitat
Soft bottoms from 20-216 (usually 20-73m).
Range
North Carolina to N. Brazil. Mostly continental.
References
Miller, G. C. & W. J. Richards. 1991. Revision of the western Atlantic and eastern Pacific genus Bellator (Pisces: Triglidae). Bulletin of Marine Science v. 48 (no. 3): 635-656.