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Species: Porichthys oculellus, Small-eye midshipman

All Families:   All Genera:   All Species:

small eye
back: 5-7 saddles; fins clear
D & A: joined to C
lower gill rakers: 7-8
lower LL ends behind its line of lights
A 35-38; C 12

Porichthys oculellus Walker & Rosenblatt, 1988

Small-eye midshipman

Body compressed, elongate; head a little flattened above, no tentacles; eye small; one solid spine on opercle; no subopercular spines; teeth like canines; 7-8 lower gill rakers;  first dorsal fin 2 solid spines, separate from second dorsal fin; second dorsal 38-40 rays; anal rays 37 (35-38); dorsal and anal fins broadly joined to tail; 12 tail rays; no scales; 4 lateral lines on body with light organs; lower lateral line ends BEHIND same line of light organs.

Pale yellowish brown above, fading to greyish white below; 5-7 grey-brown saddles on back, 1 across nape, & 1 across rear of head & operculum; dark half moon shaped blotch under eye; a pale blotch on preopercle; dorsal, anal and tail fins very pale translucent yellow.

Size: 8.4 cm.

Habitat: sand and mud bottoms.

Depth: 5-10 m.

Panama to Colombia.


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Salinity
  • Brackish
  • Marine
Inshore/Offshore
  • Inshore
  • Inshore Only
Water Column Position
  • Bottom only
  • Bottom
Habitat
  • Soft bottom (mud/sand/gravel/beach/estuary/mangrove/seagrass)
  • Soft bottom only
  • Estuary
  • Mud
FishBase Habitat
  • Demersal
Feeding Group
  • No Data
  • Carnivore
Diet
  • Mobile benthic gastropods/bivalves
  • Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
  • No Data
  • Bony fishes
Egg Type
  • No data
  • No pelagic larva
  • Benthic
  • No pelagic phase
Global Endemism
  • Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP) endemic
  • All species
  • East Pacific endemic
Regional Endemism
  • Continental TEP endemic
  • Panamic province endemic
  • Continent
  • TEP endemic
  • All species
  • Continent only
Residency
  • Resident
Climate Zone
  • Equatorial (Costa Rica to Ecuador + Galapagos, Clipperton, Cocos, Malpelo)
IUCN Red List
  • Listed
  • Data deficient
CITES
  • Not listed
Length Max
  • 8.4
Depth Range Min
  • 5
Depth Range Max
  • 10