Dorsal-fin rays 11-12, rarely 11; anal-fin rays 11; total caudal-fin rays 41-42; dorsal segmented caudal rays 9; ventral segmented caudal rays 10; dorsal procurrent caudal rays 12; ventral procurrent caudal rays 10-11; pelvic-fin rays 8; pectoral-fin rays 11 or 12; total vertebrae 47-49, modally 49; predorsal vertebrae 12 or 13; scales ctenoid; pored lateral-line scales 45-48, modally 47; median predorsal scales 15 or 16; scales above lateral line to dorsal-fin base 3.5; scales below lateral line to anal-fin base 4.5.
Predorsal length 37.8-43.6% SL (40.4%); prepelvic length 32.2-36.5% SL (34.3%); preanal length 67.6-72.5% SL (70.4%); preadipose length 75.7-82.1% SL (79.3%); dorsal-fin base 15.0-18.2% SL (16.5%), longest dorsal-fin ray 15.2-17.0% SL (16.1%); anal-fin base 13.0-15.5% SL (14.3%), longest anal-fin ray 6.9-9.4% SL (7.7%); pectoral-fin length 12.5-14.7% SL (13.5%); pelvic-fin length 21.6-25.2% SL (23.3%); caudal-peduncle length 9.9-16.7% SL (13.4%), caudal-fin length 16.5-21.5% SL (19.1%), ventral caudal lobe slightly longer than dorsal lobe.
Anterior nostril on level with median axis of orbit; posterior nostril same size and situated slightly dorsal to anterior nostril; anterior nostril with large, leaf-shaped flap that tapers distally, length of flap when depressed 0.8-1.2% SL (1.0%) and 2.7-4.9% HL (3.8%); anterior portion of posterior nostril occluded by basal rim of flap (Fig.
Dorsal and anal fins each flanked basally by 10-12 half scales, remainder of dorsal and anal fins without scales; large, diamond-shaped scales covering pelvic-fin base, remainder of pelvic fin and pectoral fin without scales; 6 rows of body scales extending onto base of caudal fin; upper and lower caudal lobes each with a single, enlarged, horizontally elongate scale.
A species of Synodus differentiated from its congeners by the following combination of characters: dorsal-fin rays 11-12; anal-fin rays 11; total caudal rays 40-42; dorsal segmented caudal rays 9; ventral segmented caudal rays 9-10; dorsal procurrent caudal rays 11-12; ventral procurrent caudal rays 9-10; pelvic-fin rays 8; pectoral-fin rays 11-13; total vertebrae 49-52, modally 50; pored lateral-line scales 49-52, modally 51; median predorsal scales 16 or 17; scale rows on cheek 6-8; HL 15.2-28.4% SL (26.6%); orbit diameter 3.6-6.4% SL (4.7%) and 13.4-22.5% HL (17.2%); interorbital width 2.8-5.3% SL (4.3%) and 10.1-19.4% HL (15.9%); flap on anterior nostril small and broad, length 1.5-3.6% HL (2.4%); snout triangular in dorsal view; pelvic-fin length 23.1-26.7% SL (24.9%).
Furthermore, the two vertebrae localised under the dorsal fin have six neural spines each.
The first one includes the vertebrae underlying the dorsal fin (V11 and V12), and those of the body with the exclusion of the tail.
Dorsal vertebrae: The two dorsal elements show the vertical stretching of the posterior body, with consequent bending of the whole structure becoming relatively shorter.
The dorsal elements become bigger from the 10th (supra-dorsal) to the 12th.
The largest amount of variation is displayed at the supra-dorsal element (with high values also for the following two dorsal ones).
Dentro de estos dos grupos, analisis de varianza del numero de escamas dorsales, en conjunto con la prueba de Duncan de rango mulitple, sugieren que estos tres taxa representan tres especies distintas.
dulcis whose total dorsal scale count varied from 214-245, and only four of which had an anterior supralabial combination of 1/2 (an undivided anterior supralabial on one side, but divided on the other); L.
The authors felt that the high variability of dorsal scale count indicated that further study was warranted.
Total number of dorsal scales were counted from the posterior edge of the rostral to the tail spine.
Leptotyphlops dulcis dulcis.--Total number of dorsal scales of 518 L.
