Species: Opistognathus whitehursti, Dusky jawfish
snout: dark bar between eyes
lips: white bars
Opistognathus whitehursti (Longley, 1927)
Dusky jawfish
Elongate, compressed, tapering body; large bulbous head; eye large, high; front nostril a short tube with a slender cirrus; mouth terminal, large, extends well to rear of eye; rear of top jaw rigid, not ending in a thin flexible plate; front of roof of mouth with 1-3 teeth; 1 row of teeth along side of first bone of top jaw; 24-32 gill rakers; fin spines flexible; dorsal and anal fins with long bases; dorsal X-XII, spines stiff, tips pointed and usually with pale, slightly swollen fleshy tabs, 13-15; anal III, 12-14; pelvic fins I, 5, outer 2 rays stout and unbranched, inner 3 rays weaker and branched, fin base before the pectoral; tail rounded, shorter than head, ~25% of SL; lateral line on front half of body only, high; scales small, smooth, none on head, body with 42-54 oblique scale rows.
Head and body dark brown, with mottling; sometimes upper head and back are whitish; body often with dark flecks, sometimes a faint dark stripe overlaid by blotches along mid-side; pale around opening to gut inside mouth; a dark bar on snout between eyes; top lips with a series of thin white bars; dorsal, anal and tail fins either pale, with rows of small brown spots or vice versa; front of dorsal fin sometimes with an indistinct large, oval greenish to blue spot.
Reaches 7.8 cm.
Lives in burrows on sand and rubble bottoms.
Depth range: 0-60 m.
The Bahamas to the southern Caribbean.
Note: Its Brazilian sister species is O. vicinus.
High Resolution Map Download
- Salinity
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- Marine
- Marine Only
- Inshore/Offshore
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- Inshore Only
- Inshore
- Water Column Position
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- Bottom
- Bottom only
- Habitat
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- Soft bottom (mud/sand/gravel/beach/estuary/mangrove/seagrass)
- Soft bottom only
- Sand & gravel
- Reef associated (reef + edges-water column & soft bottom)
- Reef (rock/coral/oyster)
- FishBase Habitat
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- Reef Associated
- Feeding Group
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- Carnivore
- Data
- Diet
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- Sea-stars/cucumbers/urchins
- Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
- Data
- Bony fishes
- Egg Type
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- Data
- Brooded
- Pelagic larva
- Global Endemism
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- West Atlantic Endemic
- All species.
- Greater Caribbean endemic
- Regional Endemism
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- Island (s)
- Continent
- GC endemic
- Continent + Island (s)
- All species..
- Residency
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- Resident
- Climate Zone
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- Equatorial (0-10N, Costa Rica / Venezuela)
- Tropical (10-23N, Nicaragua / Cuba)
- Subtropical (23-35N, Florida / Carolinas / Bermuda)
- IUCN Red List
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- Least concern
- Listed
- CITES
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- Not listed
- Length Max
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- 7.8
- Depth Range Min
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- 0
- Depth Range Max
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- 60
