Common Name
Caribbean Searobin
Year Described
Miller, 1965
Identification
Dorsal Fin: XI, 11
Anal Fin: 10-11
Pectoral Fin: 11-12
Lateral Line: 32-40
Gill Rakers: 13-16 (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 reaches under anterior orbit. No spine in front of eyes. No cirri behind eyes. Preopercle and opercle usually bear strong spines. Preopercular spine without basal spine (reduced to a round bump). 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 anterior base of anal fin. Two dorsal fins: one spiny and one soft rays. First dorsal spine 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 red spotting. Spots become much large on flanks with 4-5 large reddish blotches. 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 a dark border. Anal fin white with a red base. Pelvic fin reddish and white. Tail with three or four golden to reddish stripes and a red lower lobe.
Size
Maximum size to 16cm SL.
Habitat
Soft bottoms from 40-145m.
Range
Honduras to Brazil. Continental only.
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.
Other Notes
This species has a shorter pectoral fin, larger mouth, and a single dorsal filament in males compared to Bellator militaris. The short cleithral spine, among other characters, distinguishes the other two species from this one.