Species: Symphurus plagusia, Duskycheek Tonguefish

Symphurus plagusia (Bloch & Schneider, 1801)

Duskycheek Tonguefish

Body highly compressed, elongate, oval, tapers to pointed tail, fairly deep, tapering gradually from behind midpoint; head wide, shorter than wide; snout long, squarish; eyes small, close-set, on left side; lower eye small, spherical; no cover for pupils; mouth small, curved, strongly so on blind side, reaches just past lower eye; eye side lower jaw with fleshy crest; preopercle edge covered with skin; dorsal fin 89-97 rays, its origin behind or over rear edge of top eye; anal fin 73-81 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; 79-89 lateral scales; eyes without scales on front half; rays of dorsal and anal without scales on blind-side; no lateral line.

Top side pale brown to yellowish, sometimes with 8-14 faint narrow crossbars; blind side yellowish, without dark dots; occasionally a dusky blotch on upper operculum; dorsal and anal fins uniformly dusky, occasionally with alternating blocks of dark and unpigmented fin rays; tail dusky at base, tip dark; lining of gut cavity without pigment.

Size: 14 cm.

Habitat: mud bottoms, including in estuaries.

Depth: 1-100 m.

Cuba to Brazil.