Liparis tunicatus

Liparis tunicatus, or the kelp snailfish, is a species of snailfish from the genus Liparis.[1] It can be found in marine, demersal waters at a depth range from 0 to 620 m (0–2,034 ft).[1] The kelp snailfish lives in the Arctic and Northwest Atlantic Ocean among kelp.[1] The species is common, at least around Greenland and Franz Josef Land.[2][3] A bottom feeder, it eats small crustaceans.[1] At Franz Josef Land, it spawns in March at a depth of 6–25 m (20–82 ft), with the egg clusters attached to kelp.[2]

Liparis tunicatus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Scorpaeniformes
Family: Liparidae
Genus: Liparis
Species:
L. tunicatus
Binomial name
Liparis tunicatus

The kelp snailfish is among the northernmost living species in its family, together with species like Liparis bathyarcticus and L. fabricii.[2]

Description

The fish grows to a maximum total length of about 16.5 cm (6.5 in).[2] It has small dark spots and can have pale stripes.[4] Liparis tunicatus has a small gill opening.[4] It is sometimes confused with juveniles of the related L. gibbus.[3]

References
  1. Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2014). "Liparis tunicatus" in FishBase. November 2014 version.
  2. Chernova, N.V.; Friedlander, A.M.; Turchik, A.; Sala, E. (2014). "Franz Josef Land: extreme northern outpost for Arctic fishes". PeerJ. 2: e692. doi:10.7717/peerj.692. PMC 4266852.
  3. Møller, P.R.; Nielsen, J.; Knudsen, S.W.; Poulsen, J.Y.; Sünksen, K.; Jørgensen, O.A. (2010). "A checklist of the fish fauna of Greenland waters". Zootaxa. 2378 (1): 1–84.
  4. C. Richard Robins; G. Carleton Ray (1 March 1999). A Field Guide to Atlantic Coast Fishes: North America. Houghton Mifflin. p. 170. ISBN 978-0-395-97515-2.


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