| Main Ref. | Hulley, P.A., 1986 |
| Appearance refers to | |
| Bones in OsteoBase |
| Specialized organs | |
| Different appearance | |
| Different colors | |
| Remarks |
| Striking features | |
| Body shape lateral | elongated |
| Cross section | |
| Dorsal head profile | |
| Type of eyes | |
| Type of mouth/snout | |
| Position of mouth | |
| Type of scales | |
| Diagnosis |
Anal organs 13-15; males with 6 luminous scales in the supracaudal gland, and females with 1-4 smaller scales in the infracaudal gland; ctenoid scales on the anal fin base with 1-2 posteriorly-directed spines, and posterolateral organ is well in advance of origin of adipose fin base, which separate M. spinosus from other species of the genus (Ref. 39633). |
| Ease of Identification |
| Lateral Lines | Interrupted: No |
| Scales on lateral line | |
| Pored lateral line scales | |
| Scales in lateral series | |
| Scale rows above lateral line | |
| Scale rows below lateral line | |
| Scales around caudal peduncle | |
| Barbels | |
| Gill clefts (sharks/rays only) | |
| Gill rakers | |
| on lower limb | 13 - 15 |
| on upper limb | 5 - 6 |
| total | 18 - 23 |
| Vertebrae | |
| preanal | |
| total |
| Attributes | |
| Fins number | 1 |
| Finlets No. | Dorsal 0 - 0 |
| Ventral 0 - 0 | |
| Spines total | 0 - 0 |
| Soft-rays total | 12 - 14 |
| Adipose fin | present |
| Attributes | forked; more or less normal |
| Fins number | 1 |
| Spines total | 0 - 0 |
| Soft-rays total | 18 - 19 |
| Pectoral | Attributes |
| Spines 0 | |
| Soft-rays 14 - 15 | |
| Pelvics | Attributes |
| Position | |
| Spines | |
| Soft-rays |