Species: Stellifer stellifer, Southern Stardrum

Stellifer stellifer (Bloch, 1790)

Southern Stardrum

Body oblong, moderately compressed; head deep and broad, skull cavernous, translucent, spongy to touch; mouth large, oblique, opens at front; chin with 6 pores, no barbels; snout with 8 pores; preopercle with 3 strong bony spines at angle sometimes with smaller spines above those; gill rakers long and slender, 33-39; top corner of gill opening notched; deep notch between spiny and soft parts of dorsal fin, X-XI + I-III, 17-20; anal fin with short base II, 8-9, 2nd spine long (nearly length of 1st ray) and strong; tail fin long and pointed; scales rough on body, smooth on head and breast; 48-51 pored scales on lateral line; soft dorsal with 2-3 rows of scales along its base, membranes thickly covered with scales along 2/3 of fin height; the lateral line extends to the center of the end of the tail fin.

Silvery grey, darker above; upper 1/3 of 1st dorsal dusky with a dark tip; pectorals, pelvics and anal yellowish; inside gill cover and mouth pale.

Reaches 20 cm.

On sandy mud bottoms.

Depth range: 2-35 m.

Honduras to SE Brazil.