Centropomidae Poey 1967

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 : 39

Family Centropomidae Poey 1967 ( Fig. 3L ). Snooks; Róbalos, Gualajes

Description: Body oblong, elongate and slightly compressed; up to 120 cm in length; head pointed, with forehead oblique to concave; mouth large and protractile; lower jaw strongly protruding; margin of preopercle serrated; scales rough, large; lateral line, which usually is dark, extends to the end of the tail fin; two well separated dorsal fins, the first one with eight spines and the second one with one spine and 8–11 rays; anal fin short, with three strong spines and 5–8 soft rays; pelvic fins insert a little behind pectoral base, with one strong spine and five rays; caudal fin strongly forked ( Robertson & Allen 2015). Distribution: Marine (often brackish) and freshwater; tropical and subtropical waters of America (Nelson et al. 2016). One genus and eleven species in Nicaraguan freshwaters.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Families of continental fishes of Nicaragua, part 2; Bryconidae (A), Characidae (B), Gymnotidae (C), Loricariidae (D), Heptapteridae (E), Ariidae (F), Batrachoididae (G), Syngnathidae (H), Eleotridae (I), Gobiidae (J), Synbranchidae (K), Centropomidae (L), Polynemidae (M) and Paralichthyidae (N). Illustrations adapted (with permission) from Nelson et al. (2016) and Angulo et al. (2021).