Genus: Uraspis, Cottonmouth Jack, Jacks
oblong
D & A: no rear finlets
inside mouth white
pectoral > head
straight LL: scutes point forwards
URASPIS
JACKS
Oblong, moderately compressed; mouth reaches under front part of eye; teeth small, pointed, curved, in bands in small fish, 1 row in large fish; tongue, roof and floor of mouth white; spiny dorsal low, height < eye height; pectorals long and curved; no isolated finlets behind dorsal and anal fins; anal spines absent; tail base slender; tail strongly forked; with scutes (hard, spiny scales) on straight part of lateral line, those at rear point forwards; small scales over most of body, absent on breast and on base of pectoral, operculum partly scaled.
A circumtropical genus with 3 species; 1 Atlantic and Pacific species in our region.
