Species: Symphurus pelicanus, Longtail Tonguefish
gut cavity dark

Symphurus pelicanus Ginsburg, 1951
Longtail Tonguefish
Body highly compressed, elongate, oval, tapers to pointed tail, slender, widest at middle; head long and wide, snout long and pointed; small close-set eyes on left side; lower eye larger; 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; teeth along entire length of lower eyeside jaw, front ¾ of upper jaw; preopercle edge covered with skin; dorsal fin origin ~ above upper eye, 75-85 rays, its origin behind or over rear edge of top eye; anal fin 64-70 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 fin usually 12 rays; scales rough, on both sides of body; 62-70 lateral scales; eyes with 3-4 rows of small rough scales on front half; no lateral line.
Top side uniform pale brown to yellowish; sometimes faint crossbars; blind side white, heavily dusted with dark dots, particularly at bases of fin rays; peritoneum black; median fins as body, although tail sometimes with poorly defined spot at its base.
Size: 9 cm.
Habitat: silt and soft mud bottoms.
Depth: 24-530 m.
The Gulf of Mexico to Guyana.

High Resolution Map Download
- Salinity
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- Marine
- Marine Only
- Inshore/Offshore
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- Inshore
- Inshore Only
- Water Column Position
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- Bottom
- Habitat
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- Soft bottom (mud/sand/gravel/beach/estuary/mangrove/seagrass)
- Soft bottom only
- Mud
- FishBase Habitat
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- Demersal
- Feeding Group
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- Carnivore
- Data
- Diet
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- Data
- Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
- Mobile benthic gastropods/bivalves
- Mobile benthic worms
- Egg Type
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- Data
- Pelagic
- Pelagic larva
- Global Endemism
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- All species
- Greater Caribbean endemic
- West Atlantic Endemic
- Regional Endemism
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- Continent
- Continent + Island (s)
- Continental primarily
- Extends South of GC
- GC endemic
- Island (s)
- All species
- Residency
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- Resident
- Climate Zone
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- Equatorial (0-10N, Costa Rica / Venezuela)
- Subtropical (23-35N, Florida / Carolinas / Bermuda)
- Tropical (10-23N, Nicaragua / Cuba)
- IUCN Red List
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- Least concern
- Listed
- CITES
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- Not listed
- Length Max
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- 9
- Depth Range Min
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- 24
- Depth Range Max
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- 530