Species: Brachygenys chrysargyrea, Smallmouth Grunt

Brachygenys chrysargyrea (Gunther, 1859)

Smallmouth Grunt

Body oblong, moderately elongate, compressed; body depth 28-33% of SL; head blunt, its upper profile convex; rear margin of bone under eye concealed by scales; mouth small to moderate, lips not fleshy; underside of chin with 2 large pores and a central groove; preoperculum finely serrated, without spines; gill rakers 30-33; dorsal fin continuous, with small to moderate notch in middle, XII, 13 (12-14); anal rays III, 9 (9-10), 2nd and 3rd spines similar; tail forked; soft dorsal and anal densely scaled nearly to the edge of the fin; scales rough; scales over entire body and head except front of snout, lips and chin; pectoral fin scaled on base only; lateral-line scales 49-51; scale rows below lateral line horizontal to body axis.

Adult: silvery grey; head and body with 5-6 yellow stripes; all fins except pectorals yellow; inside mouth red. Juvenile: 3 dark stripes: 1 from snout through eye to tail base, ending in an upwardly bent elongate black spot on tail fin base; 1 from top of eye back along front ½ of lateral line; 1 from above eye along top of back.

Size: attains 23 cm.

Habitat: on reefs and hard bottoms; juveniles in seagrass beds.

Depth: 0-42 m.

Florida to the S Caribbean. Its brazilian sister species is H. squamipinnis.