Spine-cheek Gudgeon, Eleotris acanthopomus Bleeker 1853

D VI; I,8; A I,8; P 15-17; V I, 5; Tr Sc 12-15; GR 8-10.
Body elongate, cylindrical anteriorly, compressed posteriorly; body stout, depth 18.1-22.2% SL; length of caudal peduncle less than 2 times its depth.  Head pointed, dorsally flattened, depth 28.5-36.4% of head length; frontal profile straight to slightly concave. Snout pointed, as long as eye, tip before upper part of eye. Anterior nostril near margin of snout as a short tube.  Eye 18.1-22.2% head length, inter-orbital 1.0-1.7 eye diameter. Lower jaw prominent; upper jaw reaching to or just past middle of eye; teeth in many rows, small, inner and outer most rows a little enlarged, subequal. Preopercular spine conical, curved. Supraopercular groove distinct. 5-6 transverse lines of pit organ canals along lower edge of cheek.
Scales of body ctenoid posteriorly, cycloid anteriorly; lateral line absent; longitudinal series 48-56; predorsal scales 33-46; snout naked, head with scales above, between and behind eye, on cheek and opercle. 11-12 scales in a transversal line at mid caudal peduncle.
Two dorsal fins; first dorsal fin obtuse, about half body height, second, third and fourth rays longest; second dorsal and anal fin higher than first dorsal fin, about as high as body. Caudal fin obtuse, a little shorter than head. Pectoral fin obtuse, about as long as head. Pelvic fins separate, slightly shorter.

Martin F. Gomon