Body elongate, depressed at front, compressed at rear; head broad, depressed; filaments on snout back to level of eyes; eyes large; mouth strongly oblique, lower jaw projecting; teeth pointed; 2 solid spines on upper opercle and 2 below and behind those; dorsal fin with 3 solid spines, spiny and soft parts joined; dorsal rays III + 25-27; anal rays 21-23; dorsal and anal fins not joined to tail fin; 12-14 glandular pores on membranes on inner side of pectoral fin; 2 lateral lines, the upper broken below middle portion of second dorsal fin and again below posterior most dorsal rays, no light organs; body covered with small imbedded scales; head and breast without scales; scales on nape reach before transverse lateral line canal.
Generally brown, darker on back; belly whitish; body and dorsal fin with dark bars; a dark brown oblique bar sometimes evident on cheek.
Size: reaches 32 cm.
Inhabits sand bottoms adjacent to rocky areas, also occurs in tidepools.
