| Main Ref. | Armbruster, J.W. and D.C. Taphorn, 2013 |
| Appearance refers to | |
| Bones in OsteoBase |
| Specialized organs | |
| Different appearance | |
| Different colors | |
| Remarks | Males possess elongated odontodes on dorsal portion of head (odontodes on head of female not elongated) and cleithrum anteriorly and ventrally from an arc extending from exposed dorsal part of cleithrum, to exposed opercle, to anterior of eye to nares; odontodes longest just anterior to base of evertible cheek plates, anteriorly above center of snout, and on opercle; longest odontode slightly smaller than orbit diameter. Hypertrophied odontodes also present on opercle, and exposed portion of cleithrum. Snout skin appears to thicken prior to emergence of hypertrophied odontodes as some individuals have thickened skin and shorter odontodes. Males also have odontodes on pectoral-fin spines becoming longer distally (vs. all about same size in females). Dark spots on head faded in males (Ref. 93221). |
| Striking features | |
| Body shape lateral | |
| Cross section | |
| Dorsal head profile | |
| Type of eyes | |
| Type of mouth/snout | sucker-like |
| Position of mouth | |
| Type of scales | |
| Diagnosis |
Distinguished from all species of Neblinichthys by having the following characters: mottling on the caudal peduncle consisting of dark spots and dashes; spots on the head; and hypertrophied snout odontodes are rather short, none as large as the eye diameter. Also differs from other congeners by the following combination of characters: iris operculum; odontodes on the opercle; and internares 3.9-4.6% HL; no spots (or at best very faint spots on a light background) on the abdomen of adult males; a rectangular dark blotch at the base of the caudal fin; internares width 10.5-12.4% HL; postanal length 28.5-30.6% SL; one preadipose plate with the adipose membrane conspicuous; and greater than 20 evertible cheek odontodes; five rays on anal fin; and large spots on the fins that clearly proceed onto the membranes; four to five bands or rows of spots in the caudal fin; and predorsal length/postanal length ratio 150.1-164.6% (Ref. 93221). |
| Ease of Identification |
| Lateral Lines | Interrupted: No |
| Scales on lateral line | |
| Pored lateral line scales | |
| Scales in lateral series | |
| Scale rows above lateral line | |
| Scale rows below lateral line | |
| Scales around caudal peduncle | |
| Barbels | |
| Gill clefts (sharks/rays only) | |
| Gill rakers | |
| on lower limb | |
| on upper limb | |
| total | |
| Vertebrae | |
| preanal | |
| total |
| Attributes | no striking attributes |
| Fins number | |
| Finlets No. | Dorsal |
| Ventral | |
| Spines total | 2 - 2 |
| Soft-rays total | 7 - 7 |
| Adipose fin | present |
| Attributes | more or less truncate |
| Fins number | |
| Spines total | 1 - 1 |
| Soft-rays total | 5 - 5 |
| Pectoral | Attributes |
| Spines 1 | |
| Soft-rays 6 - 6 | |
| Pelvics | Attributes |
| Position | |
| Spines 1 | |
| Soft-rays 5 - 5 |