Author: Bennett, 1831
Microchirus hexophthalma Bennett, 1831
Diagnosis: body oval. Upper eye less than its own diameter from dorsal profile of head; anterior nostril on blind side not enlarged, its distance from front margin of head about twice in its distance from cleft of mouth; anterior nostril on eyed side with a backward-pointing tube, hardly reaching to front border of lower eye. Dorsal fin beginning at vertical through front border of upper eye, with 65-80 finrays; pectoral fin on eyed side with 5-8 finrays, on blind side 4-8, but a little shorter; anal finrays 52-64; caudal fin separate from last dorsal and anal finrays. Lateral line with 85-115 pored scales, the supra-temporal branch forming an angular S-shape, the ascending part running upward and backward; scales rectangular, the intercanalicular striae of Dicologlossa type. Vertebrae 37-40. Colour: eyed side reddish-brown with dark bands and 6 ocelli, dark along the dorsal and anal fins. Size: to 20 cm SL.
Habitat: demersal, in shallow waters. Food: no data. Reproduction: no data.
Distribution: eastern Atlantic (southward from Portugal, including Madeira), Mediterranean (Catalan Sea). Elsewhere, the Canaries and southward to Angola.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. No data.
Otoliths (sagitta). Chaine, 1936: 182, pl. 11.