Description
Acrochordonichthys is characterized by a highly rugose skin with tubercles arranged in longitudinal rows along the side of the body, the presence of a long, low adipose fin, and a truncate caudal fin. The tubercles on Acrochordonichthys may become either greatly hypertrophied or greatly reduced at different stages of the moulting cycle; moulting is known to occur in the related genus Breitensteinia. When they are most developed, the tubercles appear more rounded and tightly packed, but are more squamous (flattened) and further apart when least developed.
The head is broad and depressed, while the body is moderately compressed. The dorsal profile rises evenly but not steeply from tip of snout to the origin of the dorsal fin, then slopes gently ventrally from there to end of caudal peduncle. The ventral profile is horizontal to origin of the anal fin, then slopes dorsally to end of the caudal peduncle. The head is covered with small tubercles with poorly demarcated and indistinct margins, and the body with such tubercles arranged in 5–6 longitudinal rows on each side. The dorsal fin origin is nearer the tip of the snout than caudal flexure. The pectoral spine is stout, with or without serrations on the posterior edge. The caudal fin is weakly emarginate.
Sexual dimorphism has been reported in Acrochordonichthys. Males have the anus situated immediately in front of a genital papilla, which is located posterior to the pelvic fin base. The genital opening is situated at the tip of the papilla, covered by a fleshy flap. In females, the anus is situated more posteriorly and the genital opening is located at the tip of a short genital appendage. In A. ischnosoma, males have a long genital papilla located immediately posterior to anus, while females have a conical genital papilla located immediately posterior to anus.
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