Diagnosis |
Eigenmannia meeki is distinguished from all other species of Eigenmannia, except E. vicentespelaea, E. virescens, and E. waiwai by having the following characters: subterminal mouth (vs. terminal). It can be diagnosed from E. vicentespelaea, E. virescens, and E. waiwai by having densely covered body with dark chromatophores except at the region above the proximal portion of the pterygiophores of the anal fin, forming a pale stripe (vs. absence of such pattern); 140-168 lateral line scales to the end of the anal fin (vs. 110-125 in E. vicentespelaea, 107-127 in E. virescens, and 111-128 in E. waiwai); 211-240 rays in anal fin (vs. 169-191 in E. vicentespelaea, 180-208 in E. virescens, and 167-195 in E. waiwai); 20-23 teeth on the dentary arranged in two rows (vs. 38-45 arranged in four rows in E. vicentespelaea, 31-41 arranged in four rows in E. virescens, and 37-38 arranged in four rows in E. waiwai). It can also be differentiated from E. vicentespelaea and E. waiwai by the lack of a narrow dark stripe between the lateral line and the proximal portion of the pterygiophores (vs. present). It further differs from E. vicentespelaea by having 10-15 longitudinal series of scales above the lateral line (vs. 7 or 8), depth of the posterodorsal expansion on infraorbitals 1þ2 less than 50% the length of infraorbitals 1þ2 (vs. approximately equal to the length of infraorbitals 1þ2), and the coronomeckelian bone corresponding to 20% the length of Meckel’s cartilage (vs. 50% the length of Meckel’s cartilage). It also differs from E. virescens by having a narrow stripe on the lateral line (vs. absent); and from E. waiwai by having 15 precaudal vertebrae (vs. 12 or 13) (Ref. 116777). |