Species: Neoniphon marianus, Longjaw Squirrelfish

Neoniphon marianus (Cuvier in Cuvier & Valenciennes, 1829)

Longjaw Squirrelfish

Body ovate, elongate; mouth small, oblique, lower jaw projecting; snout pointed; eye very large; edges of bones of operculum and under eye with a series of slender spines, 1-2 enlarged spines on edge of operculum, a long stout spine at corner of preopercle; lower gill rakers 10-14; dorsal fin with XI spines, continuous, with last spine closer to 1st soft ray than to 2nd last spine, front rays not elongated; anal with IV spines, 3rd spine extremely long and stout, 7-10; pelvics I, 7; tail forked, lobes nearly equal in length; scales large, very rough.

Silvery red; lower 1/3 of head white; body with a series of prominent thin gold stripes; spiny dorsal fin gold, the spine tips white, a row of white blotches along the lower 1/3 of the fin; tail fin with broad red upper and lower margins; soft dorsal and anal clear.

Reaches 22 cm.

Lives on reefs.

Depth range: 15-151 m

North Carolina to the S Caribbean.

Note: Recently moved from the genus Flammeo.