Head (including superficial bones of head)

The head is relatively short (fitting about 2.5 to 3.0 times into standard length), and naked above, except for a more-or-less isolated broad band of scales extending obliquely on each side of the nape. The dorsal profile of the head is somewhat rounded between eyes, and the upper and lower profiles of the head are unequal, (the upper profile is sloped, and the lower profile is flattened). The interorbital space is convex, and the snout is short and blunt. The nostrils are normally close together, and lack tubular projections. The mouth is large, protractile, and terminal, and the rear of the upper jaw (the maxilla) fits into a suborbital groove and is partially hidden when mouth is closed. The eye is large (fitting fewer than 5.6 times in head length), and is closest to the upper profile of head (its lower edge is generally above an imaginary line drawn from the snout tip to the middle of the caudal fin base). The suborbital width is 6 to 7% of the standard length. The preopercle is finely serrate on its posterior margin, and bears, at most, a shallow posterior emargination. There are fewer than 20 gill rakers (including rudiments) on the lower limb of the first arch, and they are short.