Appearance
Pictilabrus laticlavius has a moderately deep laterally compressed body, in which the height is 26-32% of its standard length. The head is quite large and is equipped with relatively large eyes and a small mouth in which the upper jaw does not reach the eye. The jaws are armed with small, canine-like teeth, the front pair in the lower jaw and the front two pairs in the upper jawbeing enlarged and recurved and there is and enlarged canine on each side of the posterior end of the upper jaw. This species has moderately large, cycloid scales which are firmly attached and which cover its body, although the head is naked apart from one to three rows scales on the cheek and eight to ten large scales on the gill cover. The lateral-line shows an abrupt downwards curve below the rearmost spines in the dorsal fin.
