Species: Symphurus marginatus, Margined Tonguefish

Symphurus marginatus (Goode & Bean, 1886)

Margined Tonguefish

Body highly compressed, elongate, oval, tapers to pointed tail, relatively elongated, nearly uniform width along front 2/3 and only a gradual taper at the rear; head long and narrow; small close-set eyes on left side; no cover for pupils; snout rounded; mouth small, curved, strongly so on blind side, extends to below front edge of lower eye; lower jaw without fleshy crest on eye-side; eye side lower jaw with a row of teeth all along its length, top jaw with a row along at least front 3/4; preopercle edge covered with skin; dorsal fin origin ~ above upper eye, 93-104 rays; anal fin 80-89 rays; pectoral fins absent, represented by a fine membrane; only left pelvic fin present, 4 rays, on body midline, joined to anal fin by delicate membrane; dorsal and anal fins confluent with the pointed caudal fin; tail usually 12 rays; scales rough, on both sides of body; 86-99 lateral scales; front parts of eyes partly covered with rough scales; no lateral line.

Top side uniform dark brown; a dark, circular blotch covering tail and tail base; lining of gut cavity black; blind side white to yellowish, without dark dots; dorsal and anal with a dark stripe along their bases, dark at rear, especially around tail blotch; tail fin dark at front, pale at rear.

Size: 15.5 cm.

Habitat: soft mud bottoms.

Depth: 37-1758 m (mostly between 320-550 m).

New Jersey to SE Brazil.