Species: Girella nigricans, California opaleye

Girella nigricans (Ayres, 1860)

California opaleye

Body oval, moderately compressed;  head blunt, short; mouth small, square, lips thick, opens at the front; the top jawbone slips partially under the under-eye bone when the mouth is closed; teeth incisiform, bases set horizontally in mouth, with curved, hockey-stick shape, outer band of large movable teeth with flattened, 3 pointed tips; no teeth on central roof of mouth; dorsal fin continuous, XII-XIV spines that fold down into a scaly groove, 12-15; anal rays III, 10-13; spines on fin short, thick; dorsal and anal fins blunt; tail blunt, straight; paired fins are relatively short; origin of the pelvics behind the base of the pectoral fin; scales small, thick and rough, covering the body, head (except the snout) and soft portions of the median fins; scales in midlateral series about 50.