Odontoscion

Odontoscion croakers have short, rather oblong and compressed bodies,^[7] with a smoothly arched dorsal profile.^[8] They have a low head with a conical snout and a large eye. There is a small protuberance on the tip of the lower jaw. The mouth is moderately large, upwards pointing and has a protruding lower jaw. There is a row of large teeth in the front of each jaw, at least some of which may be canine-like. The snout has 8 pores and there are a further 4 or 5 pores on the chin, which does not have a barbel. The preoperculum is smooth. The dorsal fin is supported by 10 or 11 spines before the incision and by a single spine and between 23 and 26 soft rays to the rear of the incision, The anal fin has 2 spines and 8 or 9 soft rays, with the second spine being 75% of the length of the first soft ray.^[7] These fishes have maximum published total lengths of 25 cm (9.8 in) in the case of O. eurymesops and 30 cm (12 in) in the other two species.^[6]

Odontoscion are found off the Americas with a single species, O. dentex in the Western Atlantic Ocean occurring from Florida and Cuba south to Brazil.^[9] The other two species are found in the Eastern Pacific Ocean with O. eurymesops being endemic to the Galapagos Islands and Cocos Island^[10][11] while O. xanthops has a range which extends from the Gulf of California to Peru.^[12] One species, O. xanthops is found in shallow coastal waters and enters estuaries and the mouths of rivers,^[12] the other two species refer harder substrates such as rocks and reefs.^[9][10]