Body with 9 red stripes alternating with 9 narrower white stripes that pass along the middle of the longitudinal scale rows; head red with a white bar along the posterior margin of preopercle. Five oblique scale rows on cheek; body depth 2.45-2.75 in SL; head length (HL) 2.5-2.7 in SL; snout length 3.6-4.0 in HL; large eyes, orbit diameter 2.6-3.1; least interorbital width 4.5-5.1 in HL; maxilla extending from a vertical at front edge of the pupil to slightly beyond the center of the eye, upper jaw length 2.45-2.8 in HL; premaxillary groove usually not reaching a vertical at front edge of the orbit; rounded anterior end of nasal bone; moderately large nasal fossa, often spineless (1 specimen with 1 spinule on anterior edge on one side, another with 2 projecting outward); upper surface of nasal bone with 4-16 small retrorse spines between nasal fossa and edge of premaxillary groove; often 2 or 3 small retrorse spines posteriorly on medial edge of nasal bone (premaxillary groove margin); 2 long opercular spines, the lower about 3/4 length to nearly as long as the upper spine; preopercular spine, 4.45-6.6 in HL; ridge at upper edge of suborbital bones serrate, the serrae decreasing in size posteriorly; 3rd or 4th dorsal spine longest, 1.9-2.25 in HL; 3rd anal spine 1.35-1.6 in HL; rounded caudal fin lobes (Ref. 27370).
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