Author: Chabanaud, 1926
Microchirus (Microchirus)boscanion Chabanaud, 1926
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Microchirus (Microchirus) boscanion (Chabanaud, 1926) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: body oval. Upper eye more than its own diameter from dorsal profile of head; anterior nostril on blind side not enlarged, anterior nostril on eyed side with a backward-pointing tube, not reaching to vertical through from margin of lower eye. Dorsal fin beginning before vertical through front border of upper eye, with 70-83 finrays; pectoral fin on eyed side small, with 4-7 finrays, on blind side very small with 2-6 finrays; anal finrays 51-64; caudal fin not united to dorsal and anal finrays by a membrane. Lateral line with 59-79 pored scales. Vertebrae 35-38. Colour: eyed side sandy yellow or light brown with 3-5 small brown or dark cross-bands; dorsal and anal fins with every fourth to sixth finray dark. Size: to 11 cm SL.
Habitat: demersal on sandy bottoms of continental shelf and slope, at depths of 10-200 m (mainly at 10-100 m). Food: no data. Reproduction: no data.
Distribution: eastern Atlantic from Gulf of Cadiz to coast of Morocco. Elsewhere, southward to Gulf of Guinea.