Centropomidae Poey 1967

Family Centropomidae Poey 1967 View in CoL View at ENA ( Fig. 3L View FIGURE 3 ). Snooks; Róbalos, Gualajes

Description: Body oblong, elongate and slightly compressed; up to 120 cm in length; head pointed, with forehead oblique to concave; mouth large and protractile; lower jaw strongly protruding; margin of preopercle serrated; scales rough, large; lateral line, which usually is dark, extends to the end of the tail fin; two well separated dorsal fins, the first one with eight spines and the second one with one spine and 8–11 rays; anal fin short, with three strong spines and 5–8 soft rays; pelvic fins insert a little behind pectoral base, with one strong spine and five rays; caudal fin strongly forked ( Robertson & Allen 2015). Distribution: Marine (often brackish) and freshwater; tropical and subtropical waters of America ( Nelson et al. 2016). One genus and eleven species in Nicaraguan freshwaters.