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Dorsal spines (total): 7-7; Dorsal soft rays (total): 9-11; Anal spines: 1-1; Anal soft rays: 8-9; Vertebrae: 26-26. This species differs from all of its congeners by the combination of the following characters: absence of eyes; total depigmentation on skin and fins; well developed sensory papillae system, with a marked relief on snout, preorbital region, anteriormost part of chin and consisting of low fleshy ridges on each side of the head; sometimes one or two vertical rows of papilla on the body, laterally, behind the pectoral fins; cephalic sensory pores reduced (see Figure 2 & 3 of original publication), pores F, I, J, K, and L absent, no extra pores between D and E; pores A, B, C and D, always present as N, O, P; pores H and M absent on some specimens (M sometimes missing on one side of the fish but not on the other), pores E, G, rarely present; dorsal rays VI-I,9 to 11; anal rays I,8-9; cycloid scales dorsally, covering the belly and extending from the posterior part of the head to the flanks to the middle of first dorsal fin; ctenoid scales on flanks from the middle of first dorsal fin to caudal peduncle; 47-49 lateral scales; 19 transverse scales; 30-32 predorsal scales; anterior-most predorsal scales extending until middle of head; 23-25 circumpeduncular scales; 13 gillrakers; 10 + 16 = 26 vertebrae; head length 38.1-39.7% of SL; snout length 7.2-7.4% of SL; upper jaw length,13.4-14.0% SL; mouth width 8.5-11.4% SL; anterior body depth 16.0-18.8% SL and body width 17.0-18.1% of SL; caudal peduncle length 22.5-24.0 % SL and depth 10.8-11.9% of SL; predorsal length 46.1-47.1% of SL; prepectoral length 39.2-41.3% of SL; pectoral fin length 23.9-26.7% SL (Ref. 93235). |