Genus: Emmelichthys, Red Rover, Rovers

EMMELICHTHYS

ROVERS

Body elongate, oval, compressed; head large, pointed; mouth highly protrusible; rear bone of top jaw expanded, scaled, exposed when mouth is closed; jaws toothless or with a few minute conical teeth; rear edge of opercle with 2-3 flat points; lower corner of preopercle rounded, projecting a little to rear as a thin plate; preopercle smooth to weakly serrated; gill rakers long and numerous (33-44); dorsal fin divided, with distinct gap between the two parts, VII-IX spines connected by membrane, then III-V short, isolated or buried spines + I, 10; anal fin III, 9-10; pectoral fin 18-20; pelvics I, 5; tail base without a fleshy keel or ridge; tail fin strongly forked; head and body covered with finely rough scales; soft dorsal and anal fins with a scaly sheath at the base, which covers most of last 2-3 rays; tail fin heavily scaled on its base; lateral line with 68-74 tubed scales.

A pantropical genus with 5 species; 1 W Atlantic species in our area.