Species: Opistognathus leprocarus, Roughcheek Jawfish
D, C & A: blue & yellow
opercle: black triangle in white Y

D spines straight, strong
Opistognathus leprocarus Smith-Vaniz, 1997
Roughcheek Jawfish
Elongate, compressed, tapering body; large bulbous head; eye large, high; front nostril a short tube, without a cirrus; mouth terminal, large, extends well behind eye, its rear end straight, rigid, without a thin, flexible extension; top jaw not sexually dimporphic; gill rakers 46-53; fin spines flexible; dorsal and anal fins with long bases; dorsal X-XI, 11-13, spines with tips ridgid, straight, sharp; anal III, 11-12; pelvic fins I, 5, fin base before the pectoral, fins very long (39-49% SL in adults); tail rounded, much shorter than head; lateral line on front half of body only, high; scales small, smooth; nape completely scaled; cheeks completely scaled, 4-5 rows of scales, body completely scaled including pectoral base, breast & belly.
Head and body bright yellow; sides of body with 3 broken lavender stripes, lowest stripe poorly developed; top of back with 4-5 broad yellow blotches extending onto dorsal fin, those blotches separated by narrow lavender bars; nape & between eyes lavender blue; eye with inner gold ring, outer green-blue margin, ringed outside with lavender; operculum with a prominent blackish wedge down rear edge of preopercle; edges of preopercle and opercle, throat, pectoral base and belly white; no dark color inside mouth; dorsal fin with broad blue central stripe, bordered above by narrow yellow stripe that breaks into yellow spots at rear, outer margin of fin narrowly blue; anal fin base with yellow stripe & blue spots, outer half lavender; tail fin yellow basally, most of fin blue; pelvics bright white; pectorals clear.
Reaches 7.8 cm.
Lives on sand & rubble bottoms.
Depth range: 165-308 m.
The Bahamas to the eastern Caribbean.

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
- Bottom only
- Habitat
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- Sand & gravel
- Soft bottom (mud/sand/gravel/beach/estuary/mangrove/seagrass)
- Soft bottom only
- Reef (rock/coral/oyster)
- Reef associated (reef + edges-water column & soft bottom)
- FishBase Habitat
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- Bathydemersal
- Reef Associated
- Feeding Group
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- Carnivore
- Data
- Diet
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- Data
- Bony fishes
- Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
- Egg Type
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- Brooded
- Data
- Pelagic larva
- Global Endemism
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- All species
- Greater Caribbean endemic
- Regional Endemism
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- GC endemic
- Island (s)
- Island (s) only
- All species
- Residency
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- Resident
- Climate Zone
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- 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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- 7.8
- Depth Range Min
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- 165
- Depth Range Max
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- 308