Scientific Name
Lonchurus elegans
Common Name
Blackfin croaker
Biology
Dorsal
spines
(total): 11;
Dorsal
soft rays
(total): 32-34;
Anal
spines: 2;
Anal
soft rays: 7. Colour dark greyish above, yellowish to pale below. Pectoral fins long and jet black. Tips of pelvic and anal fins dark. Inside of gill cover black. Eye small, about 8 to 9 times in head length. Mouth small, inferior, enclosed under snout. Chin with 5 pores and many barbels, 3 to 4 pairs in a tuft around median mental pore, 15 or 16 pairs along median edges of lower jaws and subopercles. Pectoral fins greatly enlarged, extending beyond anal-fin base. Gas bladder narrow, about equal to head length, bearing anteriorly 2 pairs of appendages, anterior pair short and horn-like, lateral pair long, tube-like, extends to posterior end of gas bladder (Ref 51721).