The round-tailed fighting fish is commonly known as fighting fish and black wife (Nansihu area). Iron fish, black wife, moon fish, etc. (Jinan area). The body is laterally compressed, long oval, body length of about 6-7 centimeters. The body is russet, with about 10 blue or green transverse bands, often with 2-3 dark oblique bands from the eye to the gill cover, and 1 blue spot on the posterior margin of the gill cover. Dorsal and ventral surfaces are convex and slightly shallowly curved. Head laterally flattened. Snout short protruding. Eyes large and rounded, laterally superior. Preorbital lower margin free anteriorly, weakly serrated, posteriorly covered under the skin. Interocular septum wide, slightly convex. Anterior nostril near margin of upper lip, posterior nostril near anterior margin of eye. Mouth small, superior, with oblique cleft, mandible slightly protruding. Jaw teeth weak, plow bone and palatine bone toothless. Lower margins of anterior and inferior gill cover bones weakly serrated. Gill pores significant. The supra-gill cavity is wide and contains labyrinthine supra-gill organs, which have an auxiliary respiratory function. The thiali rakers are degenerated and are only short protuberant. Gill cover membrane connected left and right, separate from isthmus. Rounded scales, interoculars, head and side of body scaled, dorsal and anal fins with scale sheaths at base, tail also scaled at base. Lateral line reduced, inconspicuous. Caudal fin rounded. Sides of body dark brown, some dark gray, with several inconspicuous black transverse bands. Posterior margin of gill cover bone with a blue eye-like patch, smaller than eye diameter. Two dark diagonal bands below the back of the eye and between the gill cover. The posterior part of each scale on the side of the body has a black margin. Dorsal, anal and ventral fins dark gray, pectoral fins light gray. Males are often more brightly colored than females, with the dorsal and anal fins more extended posteriorly. The first fin of the ventral fin is extended into a filament.

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