Mugilidae Jarocki 1822

Angulo, Arturo, Betts, Joel T., González-Alemán, Néstor J., Castañeda, Edgar, Berghe, Eric Van Den, Elías, Diego J., Mcmahan, Caleb D. & Matamoros, Wilfredo A., 2023, Continental fishes of Nicaragua: diversity, distribution and conservation status; with an annotated and illustrated checklist of species and an identification guide to families, Zootaxa 5376 (1), pp. 1-89 : 66

Family Mugilidae Jarocki 1822 ( Fig. 4K ). Mullets; Lisas, Machines, Bobos

Description: Body moderately elongate, robust; up to 120 cm in length, usually less than 90 cm; head often broad and flattened above; mouth small, opening at the front or under the snout, lips relatively thin; eyes partly covered by a transparent fatty eyelid; pectoral fins high on body; lateral line absent or very faint; pectoral girdle associated with three extrascapular bones; pelvic fins subabdominal, with one spine and five branched soft rays; two dorsal fins, widely separated, the first one with four spines, the second one with 8–10 rays; anal fin with two or three spines and 7–11 soft rays; caudal fin concave or weakly forked ( Robertson & Allen 2015, Nelson et al. 2016). Distribution: Coastal marine and brackish water, some freshwater; all tropical and temperate seas (Nelson et al. 2016). Four genera and eight species in Nicaraguan freshwaters.

Figures

FIGURE 4. Families of continental fishes of Nicaragua, part 3; Achiridae (A), Carangidae (B), Cichlidae (C), Pomacentridae (D), Atherinopsidae (E), Rivulidae (F), Poeciliidae (G), Anablepidae (H), Belonidae (I), Hemiramphidae (J), Mugilidae (K), Gobiesocidae (L), Dactyloscopidae (M) and Lutjanidae (N). Illustrations adapted (with permission) from Nelson et al. (2016) and Angulo et al. (2021).