| Main Ref. | Kottelat, M. and J. Freyhof, 2007 |
| Appearance refers to | |
| Bones in OsteoBase |
| Specialized organs | |
| Different appearance | |
| Different colors | |
| Remarks |
| Striking features | |
| Body shape lateral | fusiform / normal |
| Cross section | |
| Dorsal head profile | |
| Type of eyes | |
| Type of mouth/snout | |
| Position of mouth | |
| Type of scales | |
| Diagnosis |
Diagnosed from congeners in Caspian and Black Sea basins by the following characters: origin of anal fin below branched dorsal rays 4-5; lateral line with 38-43 + 3 scales; anal fin with 11-16½ branched rays; 16-25 gill rakers; ventral keel exposed or partly or completely scales; body deep, depth 25-32% SL, markedly laterally compressed; caudal peduncle depth 1.7-2.1 times in its length (Ref. 59043). |
| Ease of Identification |
| Lateral Lines | Interrupted: No |
| Scales on lateral line | 39 - 50 |
| Pored lateral line scales | |
| Scales in lateral series | |
| Scale rows above lateral line | 9 - 11 |
| Scale rows below lateral line | 3 - 4 |
| Scales around caudal peduncle | |
| Barbels | |
| Gill clefts (sharks/rays only) | |
| Gill rakers | |
| on lower limb | |
| on upper limb | |
| total | 16 - 25 |
| Vertebrae | |
| preanal | |
| total | 37 - 41 |
| Attributes | no striking attributes |
| Fins number | 1 |
| Finlets No. | Dorsal |
| Ventral | |
| Spines total | |
| Soft-rays total | |
| Adipose fin | absent |
| Attributes | forked |
| Fins number | |
| Spines total | |
| Soft-rays total |
| Pectoral | Attributes more or less normal |
| Spines | |
| Soft-rays | |
| Pelvics | Attributes more or less normal |
| Position abdominal before origin of D1 | |
| Spines | |
| Soft-rays |