Species: Symphurus plagiusa, Blackcheek tonguefish

Symphurus plagiusa (Linnaeus, 1766)

Blackcheek tonguefish

Body highly compressed, elongate, oval, tapers to pointed tail; body relatively deep; snout rounded; eyes small, close together on left side, lower eye smaller; no or a weak cover on pupil; front nostril on blind side a bump; mouth small, arched (strongly on blind side), at front or a little under snout; eye side lower jaw with a fleshy crest; top jaw on eye side usually without teeth; preopercle edge covered with skin; dorsal fin origin ~ above upper eye, 81-91 rays; anal fin 66-75 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 10 rays; scales rough, on both sides; rays of dorsal and anal with 1 row of rough scales on blind-side; large fish with scales along 3/4 of each dorsal and anal ray on eye side; 76-86 lateral scales; no scales over front of eye; no lateral line.