''Liparis atlanticus'', the Atlantic snailfish or Atlantic seasnail, is a species of marine

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built fins made of webbings of sk ...

belonging to the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Liparidae The snailfishes or sea snails (not to be confused with invertebrate sea snails), are a family of marine ray-finned fishes. These fishes make up the Liparidae, a family classified within the order Scorpaeniformes. Widely distributed from the ...

, the snailfishes. This species is found in the western Atlantic Ocean off the eastern coast of North America.

Taxonomy

''Liparis atlanticus'' was first formally described as ''Neoliparis atlanticus'' in 1898 by the American

ichthyologists Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish (Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 35,800 species of fish had been described as of March 2 ...

David Starr Jordan David Starr Jordan (January 19, 1851 – September 19, 1931) was the founding president of Stanford University, serving from 1891 to 1913. He was an ichthyologist during his research career. Prior to serving as president of Stanford Universi ...

and

Barton Warren Evermann Barton Warren Evermann (October 24, 1853 – September 27, 1932) was an American ichthyologist. Early life and education Evermann was born in Monroe County, Iowa in 1853. His family moved to Indiana while he was still a child and it was ...

with its type locality given as

Godbout Godbout () is a village municipality in the Côte-Nord region of Quebec, Canada. It is located at the mouth of the Godbout River on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River. Godbout is accessible via Quebec Route 138 and by ferry from Matane. ...

in Quebec. Some authorities place this species in the

subgenus In biology, a subgenus ( subgenera) is a taxonomic rank directly below genus. In the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the ge ...

''Neoliparis'', while other include it in the nominate subgenus of '' Liparis''.

Description

''Liparis atlanticus'' is a small tadpole-like fish with a soft, scaleless body and complex ventral sucker formed from heavily modified pelvic fins. It has a single dorsal fin which is clearly incised at the 5th or 6th ray and the fins have comparatively ferwer fin rays than its congeners. The overall color is brown, lightening on the flanks and pale on the ventral surface with some black spots on sensory pores and barring on the fins. This species reaches a maximum length of about .

Distribution and habitat

''Liparis atlanticus'' are found in the coastal waters of the northwest Atlantic Ocean, ranging from

Ungava Bay Ungava Bay (; , ; /) is a bay in Nunavut, Canada separating Nunavik (far northern Quebec) from Baffin Island. Although not geographically apparent, it is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. The bay is roughly oval-shaped, about at its widest p ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. The Atlantic snailfish lives in

intertidal zone The intertidal zone or foreshore is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide; in other words, it is the part of the littoral zone within the tidal range. This area can include several types of habitats with various ...

s and the immediately subtidal region to depths of . In northern parts of its range, it is often found along the shoreline in

seaweed Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of ''Rhodophyta'' (red), '' Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ''Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as ...

beds.

Biology

''Liparis atlanticus'' attains sexual maturity in their second year when they reach a length of . They migrate into

intertidal The intertidal zone or foreshore is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide; in other words, it is the part of the littoral zone within the tidal range. This area can include several types of habitats with various sp ...

areas from mid-October prior to spawning in March and moving out of the intertidal zone in June. The males select and prepare a spawning site. The larger females have been recorded as spawning several times in a season, they deposit several small egg masses which the male fertilizes and collects into a single mass. This mass is hidden among stones and algae. Their diet is mainly

polychaetes Polychaeta () is a paraphyletic class of generally marine annelid worms, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes (). Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called chaetae, which are m ...

and

crustacean Crustaceans (from Latin meaning: "those with shells" or "crusted ones") are invertebrate animals that constitute one group of arthropods that are traditionally a part of the subphylum Crustacea (), a large, diverse group of mainly aquatic arthrop ...

References

*"Fishes of the World". Alwyne Wheeler. *"The Inland Fishes of New York State." C. Lavett Smith. {{Taxonbar, from=Q2011282 atlanticus Fish of the Atlantic Ocean Taxa named by David Starr Jordan Taxa named by Barton Warren Evermann Fish described in 1898