Species: Phaeoptyx conklini, Freckled Cardinalfish

Phaeoptyx conklini (Silvester, 1915)

Freckled Cardinalfish

Body oblong, compressed; head large, snout short, blunt; eye large; moderately large oblique mouth that opens at the front; top jaw wide, partly concealed when mouth is closed, scaleless; teeth small, no canines, usually present on center and sides of roof of mouth; preopercle edge serrated; membraneous ventral preopercular flap extends beyond rear edge of preopercle; 20-22 gill rakers, 15 (rarely 14 or 16) lower rakers; dorsal fin VI +I, 9; anal fin II, 8; pectoral fin rays 11-12 (rarely 13); inner pelvic ray connected to body along most or all of its length; tail usually concave; body scales rough; a row of scales on centerline before dorsal fin; 23-45 pored lateral line scales; lateral line complete, extends onto base of tail fin.

Pink to bronze; snout not yellowish; a dark oblique bar down from eye; head with many dark spots; rear edges of scales on body with usually 2-3 uniformly spaced dark dots, forming crescent shaped marks; a dark bar on tail base, usually spans entire width of tail base, with front edge usually irregular; broad dark stripes along bases of dorsal and anal fins, usually with a pale stripe between that and base of fin; dark upper and lower edges of tail.

Reaches 9 cm.

Seagrass and rubble bottoms, in empty shells.

Depth range: 0-35 m.

Bermuda to Suriname.