Species: Symphurus plagusia, Duskycheek Tonguefish
D & A dark / faintly barred
C base & tip dark

lower jaw - fleshy ridge
no pupil cover
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.

High Resolution Map Download
- Salinity
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- Brackish
- Marine
- Inshore/Offshore
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- Inshore
- Inshore Only
- Water Column Position
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- Bottom
- Habitat
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- Sand & gravel
- Soft bottom (mud/sand/gravel/beach/estuary/mangrove/seagrass)
- Soft bottom only
- Estuary
- 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 worms
- Egg Type
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- Data
- Pelagic
- Pelagic larva
- Global Endemism
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- All species
- Greater Caribbean non-endemic
- West Atlantic Endemic
- Regional Endemism
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- Also in Brazil
- Continent
- Continent + Island (s)
- Extends South of GC
- GC non-endemic
- Island (s)
- All species
- Residency
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- Resident
- Climate Zone
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- Equatorial (0-10N, Costa Rica / Venezuela)
- 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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- 14
- Depth Range Min
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- 1
- Depth Range Max
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- 100