| Main Ref. | Child, C.A., 1998 |
| Appearance refers to |
| specialized organs | |
| different appearance | |
| different colors | |
| remarks |
| Striking features | |
| Body shape lateral | |
| Cross section | |
| Dorsal head profile | |
| Type of eyes | |
| Type of mouth/snout | |
| Position of mouth | |
| Diagnosis | Leg span: 2 - 3 cm, a tall ocular tubercle with prominent eyes, and closely crowded lateral processes which usually, along with the trunk, have long dorsal spines. Spines are also carried on the chelifore scape and in rows along the leg. It has a short neck, crowded with a bulbous oviger base on each side. The male ovigers have distally inflated fifth and sixth segments which are often collapsed. The tarsus, with strong distal spines, is usually as long as or longer than the propodus which has a short main claw and vestigial or missing auxiliary claws. A wide range of variations occur among the many specimens of this species. This is attested to by its several synonyms. This is the genotype of a group of 20 predominantly Antarctic species which belong to a discrete assemblage called the australe group (Ref. 156). It shares the diagnostic characters enumerated above with the others and forms one of the groups into which this cumbersome genus must be divided if any sense is to be made of trying to separate its multitude of species (Ref. 9). |
| 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 | |
| on upper limb | |
| total | |
| Vertebrae | |
| preanal | |
| total |
| Attributes | |
| Fins number | |
| Finlets No. | Dorsal |
| Ventral | |
| Spines total | |
| Soft-rays total | |
| Adipose fin |
| Attributes |
| Fins number | |
| Spines total | |
| Soft-rays total |
| Pectoral | Attributes |
| spines | |
| soft-rays | |
| Pelvics | Attributes |
| Position | |
| spines | |
| soft-rays |