The Cyclopteridae are a family of marine fishes, commonly known as lumpsuckers or lumpfish, in the order

Scorpaeniformes The Scorpaeniformes are a diverse Order (biology), order of Actinopterygii, ray-finned fish, including the lionfishes and sculpins, but have also been called the Scleroparei. It is one of the five largest orders of bony fishes by number of spec ...

. They are found in the cold waters of the

Arctic The Arctic (; . ) is the polar regions of Earth, polar region of Earth that surrounds the North Pole, lying within the Arctic Circle. The Arctic region, from the IERS Reference Meridian travelling east, consists of parts of northern Norway ( ...

North Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for ...

, and

North Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the contine ...

oceans. The greatest number of species are found in the North Pacific. The family name ''Cyclopteridae'' derives from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

words ''κύκλος'' (kyklos), meaning "circle", and ''πτέρυξ'' (pteryx), meaning "wing" or "fin", in reference to the circle-shaped

pectoral fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish aquatic locomotion, swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the vertebral column ...

s of most of the fish in this family.

Genera

Cyclopteridae includes the following valid genera:

Description

Lumpsuckers are named appropriately enough; their portly bodies are nearly spherical with generally drab coloration and lithic patterns. The "sucker" part refers to the fish's modified

pelvic fin Pelvic fins or ventral fins are paired fins located on the ventral (belly) surface of fish, and are the lower of the only two sets of paired fins (the other being the laterally positioned pectoral fins). The pelvic fins are homologous to the hi ...

s, which have evolved into

adhesive Adhesive, also known as glue, cement, mucilage, or paste, is any non-metallic substance applied to one or both surfaces of two separate items that binds them together and resists their separation. The use of adhesives offers certain advantage ...

discs (located ventrally, behind the pectoral fins); the fish use these discs to adhere to the substrate. Many species have bony, wart-like ''

tubercle In anatomy, a tubercle (literally 'small tuber', Latin for 'lump') is any round nodule, small eminence, or warty outgrowth found on external or internal organs of a plant or an animal. In plants A tubercle is generally a wart-like projectio ...

s'' adorning the head and body; these are important taxonomic features of the family. The simple, rounded fins are small with the exception of the broad, fan-like pectorals, which actually extend ventrally. The first of the two

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates. Dorsal fins have evolved independently several times through convergent evolution adapting to marine environments, so the fins are not all homologous. They are found ...

s is spinous, with 4–8 spines; in some species, this fin is completely overgrown with skin and therefore not visible. While the

lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelia ...

in lumpsuckers is otherwise reduced or absent, it is well developed in the head; some species even have tubular, whisker-like external projections of the opercular canal, which is a part of the

cranial Standard anatomical terms of location are used to describe unambiguously the anatomy of humans and other animals. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek language, Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. Thi ...

lateral line system. The relatively small mouths of lumpsuckers are lined with narrow rows of small conical teeth. The

gas bladder The swim bladder, gas bladder, fish maw, or air bladder is an internal gas-filled organ in bony fish that functions to modulate buoyancy, and thus allowing the fish to stay at desired water depth without having to maintain lift via swimming, ...

is absent. In terms of length, lumpsuckers range in size from in the case of '' Eumicrotremus awae'' up to more than in the case of the common lumpsucker '' Cyclopterus lumpus''.

Habitat and diet

As their appearance might suggest, lumpsuckers are poor swimmers. Most species are ''

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning "the depths". ...

''; that is, they spend most of their time on or near the bottom. The fish are found on rocky or muddy substrates, where their colouration allows for effective

camouflage Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the b ...

. Members of the family are found primarily on the

continental shelf A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an islan ...

slope In mathematics, the slope or gradient of a Line (mathematics), line is a number that describes the direction (geometry), direction of the line on a plane (geometry), plane. Often denoted by the letter ''m'', slope is calculated as the ratio of t ...

, at depths down to . Some of the deeper-living species are however

pelagic The pelagic zone consists of the water column of the open ocean and can be further divided into regions by depth. The word ''pelagic'' is derived . The pelagic zone can be thought of as an imaginary cylinder or water column between the sur ...

, remaining some distance above the ocean floor. Benthic species feed on sessile

invertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...

s such as

polychaete Polychaeta () is a paraphyletic class of generally marine Annelid, annelid worms, common name, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes (). Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called c ...

worms,

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 ...

s and

mollusk Mollusca is a phylum of protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum after Arthropoda. The ...

s. Pelagic species target prey they are capable of overtaking, namely slow-moving

jellyfish Jellyfish, also known as sea jellies or simply jellies, are the #Life cycle, medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, which is a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animal ...

and

ctenophore Ctenophora (; : ctenophore ) is a phylum of marine invertebrates, commonly known as comb jellies, that inhabit sea waters worldwide. They are notable for the groups of cilia they use for swimming (commonly referred to as "combs"), and they ar ...

s. Before their

yolk Among animals which produce eggs, the yolk (; also known as the vitellus) is the nutrient-bearing portion of the egg whose primary function is to supply food for the development of the embryo. Some types of egg contain no yolk, for example bec ...

is completely absorbed, juvenile lumpsuckers consume the larvae of

s, which grow on seaweed near the surface, and smaller halacarid mites. Juveniles consume larger harpacticoids and

isopods Isopoda is an Order (biology), order of crustaceans. Members of this group are called isopods and include both Aquatic animal, aquatic species and Terrestrial animal, terrestrial species such as woodlice. All have rigid, segmented exoskeletons ...

after they have absorbed their yolk.

Behaviour and reproduction

Lumpsuckers are a poorly studied group, with little known of their behaviour and biology. At least some species are known to travel great distances in order to spawn in shallow, intertidal waters (from December to June in the smooth lumpsucker); this may well be true of all species. Males are also known to guard the brood of spherical eggs. One of the peculiarities of lumpsuckers' neural systems is that they lack Mauthner cell neurons in their hindbrain, while these cells are present in virtually all other

teleost Teleostei (; Ancient Greek, Greek ''teleios'' "complete" + ''osteon'' "bone"), members of which are known as teleosts (), is, by far, the largest group of ray-finned fishes (class Actinopterygii), with 96% of all neontology, extant species of f ...

fish. Nevertheless, lumpsuckers do have a C-startle response, which is apparently mediated by other hindbrain cells. Hatchlings have well-developed pectoral fins and adhesive pelvic discs, which the fish use to cling to rocks in shallow water. Young fish remain in shallow, warmer water until fully developed. Pacific cod and sablefish are known

predator Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common List of feeding behaviours, feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation ...

s of lumpsuckers.

Fishers and the lumpsucker industry

The only species that is targeted commercially is '' Cyclopterus lumpus'', which is targeted primarily for its roe in Canada, Greenland, Iceland, and Norway, and to a lesser extent in Denmark and Sweden. ''Cyclopterus lumpus'' are also caught from the wild to provide broodstock for the

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. Nelu ...

industry, where the fish is used as a cleaner fish to remove sea lice in salmon aquaculture.

Species

There are about 30 species in eight genera: * Genus '' Aptocyclus'' De la Pylaie, 1835 ** '' Aptocyclus ventricosus'' ( Pallas, 1769) (Smooth lumpsucker) * Genus '' Cyclopsis'' Popov, 1930 ** '' Cyclopsis tentacularis'' Popov, 1930 * Genus '' Cyclopteropsis'' Soldatov & Popov, 1929 ** '' Cyclopteropsis bergi'' Popov, 1929 ** '' Cyclopteropsis brashnikowi'' ( P. Y. Schmidt, 1904) ** '' Cyclopteropsis inarmatus'' Mednikov ( ru) & Prokhorov, 1956 (Bumpy lumpsucker) ** '' Cyclopteropsis jordani'' Soldatov, 1929 (Smooth lumpfish) ** '' Cyclopteropsis lindbergi'' Soldatov, 1930 ** '' Cyclopteropsis mcalpini'' ( Fowler, 1914) (Arctic lumpsucker) ** '' Cyclopteropsis popovi'' Soldatov, 1929 * Genus '' Cyclopterus''

Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné,#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming o ...

, 1758 ** '' Cyclopterus lumpus''

, 1758 (Lumpsucker) * Genus '' Eumicrotremus'' T. N. Gill, 1862 ** '' Eumicrotremus andriashevi'' Perminov, 1936 *** '' E. a. aculeatus'' Voskoboinikova & Nazarkin, 2015 (Andriashev's spicular-spiny pimpled lumpsucker) *** '' E. a. andriashevi'' Perminov, 1936 (Andriashev's spiny pimpled lumpsucker) ** '' Eumicrotremus asperrimus'' ( S. Tanaka (I), 1912) **'' Eumicrotremus awae'' D. S. Jordan & Snyder, 1902 ** '' Eumicrotremus derjugini'' Popov, 1926 (Leather-fin lumpsucker) ** '' Eumicrotremus eggvinii'' Koefoed, 1956 ** '' Eumicrotremus gyrinops'' ( Garman, 1892) **'' Eumicrotremus jindoensis'' S. J. Lee, J.-K. Kim, Y. Kai, S. Ikeguchi, & T. Nakabo, 2017 ** ''

Eumicrotremus orbis The Pacific spiny lumpsucker (''Eumicrotremus orbis'') is a species of bony fish in the family Cyclopteridae. Description Pacific spiny lumpsuckers are a globular-shaped fish that typically measures in length, though the most common size is . ...

'' ( Günther, 1861) (Pacific spiny lumpsucker) ** '' Eumicrotremus pacificus'' P. Y. Schmidt, 1904 ** '' Eumicrotremus phrynoides'' C. H. Gilbert &

Burke Burke (; ) is a Normans in Ireland, Norman-Irish surname, deriving from the ancient Anglo-Norman and Hiberno-Norman noble dynasty, the House of Burgh. In Ireland, the descendants of William de Burgh (''circa'' 1160–1206) had the surname'' de B ...

, 1912 (Toad lumpsucker) ** '' Eumicrotremus schmidti'' Lindberg & Legeza, 1955 ** '' Eumicrotremus spinosus'' ( J. C. Fabricius, 1776) (Atlantic spiny lumpsucker) ** '' Eumicrotremus taranetzi'' Perminov, 1936 ** '' Eumicrotremus tartaricus'' Lindberg & Legeza, 1955 ** '' Eumicrotremus terraenovae'' G. S. Myers & J. E. Böhlke, 1950 **'' Eumicrotremus uenoi'' S. J. Lee, J.-K. Kim, Y. Kai, S. Ikeguchi, & T. Nakabo, 2017 * Genus '' Georgimarinus'' Voskoboinikova & Nazarkin, 2015 ** '' Georgimarinus barbatus'' ( Lindberg & Legeza, 1955) * Genus '' Lethotremus'' C. H. Gilbert, 1896 ** '' Lethotremus muticus'' C. H. Gilbert, 1896 * Genus '' Microancathus'' Voskoboinikova, 2015 ** '' Microancathus fedorovi'' ( Mandritsa, 1991) (Fedorov's lumpsucker) ** '' Microancathus tokranovi'' Voskoboinikova, 2015 (Tokranov's lumpsucker) *Genus '' Proeumicrotremus'' Voskoboinikova & Orlov, 2020 ** '' Proeumicrotremus soldatovi'' (Popov, 1930)

References

{{Authority control Cyclopteridae Cyclopteroidea Articles containing video clips Taxa named by Charles Lucien Bonaparte