| Main Ref. | Zarske, A. and J. Géry, 2001 |
| Appearance refers to | Male; Female |
| Bones in OsteoBase |
| Specialized organs | no special organs |
| Different appearance | males alike females |
| Different colors | males alike females |
| Remarks |
| Striking features | none |
| Body shape lateral | short and / or deep |
| Cross section | compressed |
| Dorsal head profile | clearly concave |
| Type of eyes | more or less normal |
| Type of mouth/snout | more or less normal |
| Position of mouth | terminal |
| Diagnosis |
Medium-sized species of Moenkhausia distinguished by the following characters: maxilla longer than snout; 1-2 broad, tri-cuspid maxillary teeth; anal fin with 29-34 branched, relatively long rays; small hooks present on rays of anal fin in males; scales relatively large, 34-36 in longitudinal series; 6.5-7.5 vertical scales before dorsal fin origin; first third of caudal origin covered with small, specialized scales; pre-ventral region rounded; shoulder spot rounded and prominent; no black spot on caudal peduncle; no black saddle-spot before origin of dorsal fin; no silver longitudinal band on side of body. 'Spines' refer to unbranched rays. |
| Ease of Identification | likely to be confused with closely related species. |
| Lateral Lines | Interrupted: No |
| Scales on lateral line | 34 - 36 |
| Pored lateral line scales | |
| Scales in lateral series | |
| Scale rows above lateral line | |
| Scale rows below lateral line | |
| Scales around caudal peduncle | 12 - 12 |
| Barbels | |
| Gill clefts (sharks/rays only) | |
| Gill rakers | |
| on lower limb | |
| on upper limb | |
| total | 17 - 21 |
| Vertebrae | |
| preanal | |
| total | 34 - 35 |
| Attributes | no striking attributes |
| Fins number | 1 |
| Finlets No. | Dorsal 0 - 0 |
| Ventral 0 - 0 | |
| Spines total | 2 - 2 |
| Soft-rays total | 9 - 9 |
| Adipose fin | present |
| Attributes | forked; more or less normal |
| Fins number | 1 |
| Spines total | 3 - 4 |
| Soft-rays total | 29 - 34 |
| Pectoral | Attributes more or less normal |
| Spines 1 | |
| Soft-rays 12 - 12 | |
| Pelvics | Attributes more or less normal |
| Position thoracic before origin of D1 | |
| Spines 2 | |
| Soft-rays 7 - 7 |