Author: Rafinesque, 1810
Diagnostic Features:
Head narrow and pointed, with 7 pairs of gill slits; eyes very large; mouth very narrow and parabolic; large lower comblike teeth long and low, with a few short mesial cusplets, an abruptly high cusp, and up to 7 or 8 distal cusplets in adults. Caudal peduncle long, distance from dorsal fin insertion to upper caudal origin over twice length of dorsal fin base. Colour: spots absent from body, dorsal fin and upper caudal lobe with black tips, faded or absent in adults but prominent in young.
Remarks:
Following Garrick and Paul (1971) and Bass, d'Aubrey and Kistnasamy (1975c), only a single species is recognized for this genus, H. perlo (Bonnaterre, 1788).