Author: Müller and Henle, 1837
Field Marks:
Grey or grey-brown, huge green eyes, moderate-sized snout, spines on both dorsals, broad, bladelike upper and lower teeth without cusplets, lower teeth much larger than uppers, pectoral free rear tips angular to attenuated, caudal with strong subterminal notch.
Diagnostic Features:
Head with short, anterior nasal flaps; flaps not expanded as barbels; snout flattened, broadly parabolic to slightly pointed, length less than distance from mouth to pectoral origins and half length of head or less; gill openings moderately broad, about equally wide or increasing slightly in width posteriorly; lips thin, not pleated or suctorial; teeth differing in upper and lower jaws, compressed, bladelike and interlocking in both jaws but much larger in the lower jaw; teeth of both jaws with a single cusp and variably developed distal blade but no cusplets, cusps of upper teeth erect to oblique, lower cusps oblique, crowns of teeth in both jaws rather broad and low, edges often serrated; tooth rows 31 to 42/27 to 35. Rather large, grooved, strong finspines present on both dorsal fins; first dorsal origin over pectoral insertions or inner margins, insertion well in front of pelvic origins and about equidistant between pectoral and pelvic bases or slightly closer to the pectoral bases; second dorsal origin varying from over last third of pelvic bases to slightly posterior to pelvic free rear tips; second dorsal smaller than first, its base about half to 3/4 length of first dorsal base; pectoral fins with free rear tips varying from squared-off and angular to elongated and acutely pointed, not broadly lobate; caudal fin asymmetrical, not paddle-shaped, upper lobe long, lower lobe poorly differentiated to short and well-developed, subterminal notch present and strong. No precaudal pits or lateral keels on caudal peduncle. Dermal denticles with low, flat ridged crowns, varying from leaf-shaped and pediculate, with posterior cusps, to cuspless, block-shaped, and without pedicels. Cloaca without a luminous gland. Colour: light to dark grey or grey-brown above, often lighter below.
Remarks:
The arrangement of this genus follows the revisions of Bigelow and Schroeder (1957), Garrick (1959), Cadenat (1959a,b,c), and Bass, d'Aubrey and Kistnasamy (1976), pending further work by S. Springer (in prep.). I follow Bigelow and Schroeder (1957), Cadenat (1959) and Bass, d'Aubrey and Kistnasamy (1976) in synonymizing Atractophorus (a genus proposed and used for juvenile Centrophorus specimens with barbs on their finspines which apparently are lost in adults) with Centrophorus, Bass, d'Aubrey and Kistnasamy (1976) in synonymizing Enchiridiodon with Centrophorus, and various writers in including Lepidorhinus in Centrophorus.
The current key and arrangement of species is highly tentative and probably will require considerable revision when new information is published. Particularly troublesome are the species of Centrophorus with sessile, block-like denticles, which vary considerably in denticle characters with growth. An alternative arrangement of some of these species is provided by Cadenat and Blache (1981), who list granulosus, lusitanicus, and uyato as 'formes' of Centrophorus, in recognition of the taxonomic difficulties provided especially by juveniles of the species. They provide a key to eastern Atlantic Centrophorus which accesses C. granulosus at three different places and C. uyato at two places to separate large adults, small adults and subadults, and juveniles of these species from each other and from other species.