| Family: |
Lumpenidae (Eel pricklebacks) |
| Max. size: |
20 cm TL (male/unsexed) |
| Environment: |
demersal; marine; depth range 2 - 607 m |
| Distribution: |
Circumpolar: Arctic to temperate waters; northern hemisphere. Arctic Alaska to Sea of Okhotsk, northern Sea of Japan, Unalaska Island in the Aleutian chain and Puget Sound, Washington, USA. North Atlantic: Arctic to Labrador in Canada; along Scandinavia from Skagerrak to Finnmarken, common at Murmansk, White Sea, Iceland and Greenland (Ref. 10006). The Pacific form is sometimes treated as a subspecies Leptoclinus maculatus diaphanocarus (Ref. 51666). |
| Diagnosis: |
Dorsal spines (total): 57-60; Dorsal soft rays (total): 0-0; Anal spines: 1-2; Anal soft rays: 34-36. Caudal rounded; lower 5 rays of pectorals greatly lengthened and exserted (Ref. 6885). Color greyish - yellow with dark irregular spots (Ref. 35388). |
| Biology: |
Adults, juveniles, and late postlarvae are found on sandy and mud to pebble bottoms, usually in less than 170 meters (Ref. 2850, 51666, 120227), while early postlarvae are pelagic (Ref. 120227). Food consists of polychaetes and crustaceans (Ref. 10571). They are an important prey for pelagic (as larvae) and benthic (as adults) predators (Ref. 120226). Sexual dimorphism is more pronounced after maturation with males displaying faster somatic growth (Ref. 120226). This marked dimorphism may well be linked with behavioral dissimilarities between males and
females, and is most likely associated with different roles during the breeding season with only adult males have large canines at the tip of upper jaw. It is assumed that males are territorial and defend their spawning sites, whereasfemales guard eggs within her partner’s territory (Ref. 128434). |
| IUCN Red List Status: |
Not Evaluated (N.E.) Ref. (130435)
|
| Threat to humans: |
harmless |
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