Lumpsuckers or lumpfishes | |
---|---|
Cyclopterus lumpus | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Scorpaeniformes |
Superfamily: | Cyclopteroidea |
Family: | Cyclopteridae Bonaparte, 1831 |
Genera | |
see text |
The Cyclopteridae are a family of marine fishes, commonly known as lumpsuckers or lumpfish, in the order Scorpaeniformes. They are found in the cold waters of the Arctic, North Atlantic, and North Pacific oceans. The greatest number of species are found in the North Pacific. The family name Cyclopteridae derives from the Greek words κύκλος (kyklos), meaning "circle", and πτέρυξ (pteryx), meaning "wing" or "fin", in reference to the circle-shaped pectoral fins of most of the fish in this family.
Cyclopteridae includes the following valid genera: [1]
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 fins, which have evolved into adhesive discs (located ventrally, behind the pectoral fins); the fish use these discs to adhere to the substrate. Many species have bony, wart-like tubercles 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 fins is spinous, with 4–8 spines; in some species, this fin is completely overgrown with skin and therefore not visible. While the lateral line 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 lateral line system.
The relatively small mouths of lumpsuckers are lined with narrow rows of small conical teeth. The gas bladder is absent. In terms of length, lumpsuckers range in size from 2 cm (0.79 in) in the case of Eumicrotremus awae up to more than 50 cm (1 ft 8 in) in the case of the common lumpsucker Cyclopterus lumpus .
As their appearance might suggest, lumpsuckers are poor swimmers. Most species are benthic ; 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. Members of the family are found primarily on the continental shelf or slope, at depths down to 1,700 m (5,600 ft). Some of the deeper-living species are however pelagic, remaining some distance above the ocean floor.
Benthic species feed on sessile invertebrates such as polychaete worms, crustaceans and mollusks. Pelagic species target prey they are capable of overtaking, namely slow-moving jellyfish and ctenophores.
Before their yolk is completely absorbed, juvenile lumpsuckers consume the larvae of crustaceans, which grow on seaweed near the surface, and smaller halacarid mites. Juveniles consume larger harpacticoids and isopods after they have absorbed their yolk. [2]
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 system is that they lack Mauthner cell neurons in their hindbrain, while these cells are present in virtually all other teleost fish. Nevertheless, the lumpsuckers do have a C-startle response, which is apparently mediated by other hindbrain cells. [3]
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 predators of lumpsuckers.
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 industry where the fish is used as a cleaner fish to remove sea lice in salmon aquaculture.
There are about 30 species in eight genera:
The Scorpaeniformes are a diverse order of 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 species, with over 1,320.
Cyclopterus is a genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Cyclopteridae, the lumpsuckers or lumpfish. Its only species is Cyclopterus lumpus, the lumpsucker or lumpfish. It is found in the North Atlantic and adjacent parts of the Arctic Ocean, ranging as far south as Chesapeake Bay on the North American coast and Spain on the European coast. The species has been reported twice in the Mediterranean Sea, off Croatia in 2004 and Cyprus in 2017.
The smooth lumpfish is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Cyclopteridae, the lumpfishes and lumpsuckers. This species is found in the northern Pacific Ocean. It is the only species in the monospecific genus Aptocyclus.
Cyclopteropsis is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Cyclopteridae, the lumpfishes or lumpsuckers. These small lumpfishes are found in the North Pacific and Arctic Oceans.
Anatoly Petrovich Andriyashev was a Soviet and Russian ichthyologist, marine biologist, and zoogeographist, notable for his studies of marine fauna of the Arctic and the Northern Pacific.
Eumicrotremus is a genus of lumpfishes native to the northern oceans. The name for this genus comes from the Greek roots eu meaning "good", mikros meaning "small" or "little", and trema meaning "hole".
Lethotremus is a monospecific genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Cyclopteridae, the lumpfishes or lumpsuckers. This genus is found in the northern Pacific Ocean. Following a 2017 taxonomic review by Lee et al., the species Lethotremus awae was reclassified as a species of Eumicrotremus, leaving the genus monotypic with Lethotremus muticus as its only species. Also known as the docked snailfish, is a species of lumpfish native to the Northeast Pacific. It is known from the Bering Sea and the Aleutian Islands, where its range extends to Unimak Pass, and it occurs at a depth range of 58 to 330 m. It is a benthic species that reaches 11.5 cm in total length. It can be found on substrates of mud, rock, or gravel, and it is currently the only known species of Lethotremus, following a reclassification of the second described species in the genus as Eumicrotremus awae.
Eumicrotremus barbatus, the papillose lumpsucker, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Cyclopteridae, the lumpfishes or lumpsuckers, found in the north Pacific Ocean. This species is characterized by the following unique apomorphies: teeth in the outer row at symphysis of premaxillae fuse with premaxillae, teeth at symphysis of dentary fuse among themselves and with dentary, forming the regular cutting edge; there are numerous barbs on the head and body; the bony plaques located in centers of connective tissue tubercles leaving the edges free. This species was originally classified in the monospecific genus Georgimarinus, but it is now regarded as a species within Eumicrotremus.
The Pacific spiny lumpsucker is a species of bony fish in the family Cyclopteridae.
Vladimir Konstantinovich Soldatov was a Russian and Soviet ichthyologist, zoologist, Doctor of Biological Sciences, professor of the Department of Ichthyology of the Moscow Technical Institute for the Fishery Industry.
Cyclopteropsis bergi is a species of lumpfish native to the Northwest Pacific, where it is found at depths of 20 to 200 m. This species reaches 7 cm in total length and occurs in the Bering Sea, the Sea of Okhotsk, and the Sea of Japan where it may be found off of North Korea and Sado Island. In 2011, a single individual of the species was also reported from Sokcho, South Korea.
Cyclopteropsis brashnikowi is a species of lumpfish native to the Sea of Okhotsk and the Northwest Pacific off of the Kuril Islands, where it is found at a depth of 30 to 303 metres. Adult individuals of the species have been noted to resemble the related species C. popovi, suggesting that the two species names may be synonymous. It is of disputed classification, being considered a species of Eumicrotremus by some authors, although sources such as FishBase, WoRMS, and ITIS do not follow this classification.
Eumicrotremus andriashevi, also known as the pimpled lumpsucker, is a species of lumpfish native to the Arctic and North Pacific. In addition to the Arctic Ocean, it may be found in the Chukchi and Bering Seas, where it occurs at a depth range of 20 to 83 m. It is a small bottom-dwelling fish that reaches 4.8 cm in standard length.
Eumicrotremus spinosus, commonly known as the Atlantic spiny lumpsucker, is a species of lumpfish native to the Arctic and North Atlantic.
Eumicrotremus pacificus, sometimes known as the spotted lumpsucker or the balloon lumpfish, is a species of lumpfish native to the Northwest Pacific. It can be found in the Sea of Okhotsk, the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea, and the Pacific Ocean off Hokkaido and the Kuril Islands. It may be confused with the closely related Eumicrotremus orbis, which overlaps with E. pacificus in range, although E. pacificus is larger, reaching 20 cm (7.9 inches) TL. This fish is generally yellow to orange in color with small dark spots and its tubercles are usually smaller and less pronounced than E. orbis, giving it a less spiny appearance.
Eumicrotremus schmidti is a species of lumpfish native to the Northwest Pacific. It is a demersal fish known only from the northern Sea of Okhotsk, where it is found at a depth range of 20 to 143 m. Specimens of E. schmidti were once attributed to the related species E. andriashevi, which does not inhabit the Sea of Okhotsk. This species was first formally described in 1955 by the Soviet ichthyologists Georgii Ustinovich Lindberg and Marina Iosifovna Legeza with its type locality given as Penzhinskaya Bay in the Sea of Okhotsk in Russia. The identity of the person honoured in the specific name was not given by Lindberg and Legeza but it is likely to be Petr Yulievich Schmidt, a Russian ichthyologist.
Proeumicrotrmus is a monospecific genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Cyclopteridae, the lumpfishes or lumpsuckers. The only species in the genus is Proeumicrotremus soldatovi, Soldatov's lumpsucker. This species is found in the Northwest Pacific. It is known from the Sea of Okhotsk, where it can be found at depths of 10 to 350 m. It reaches 26 cm (10 in) in total length, making it larger than average for a lumpfish. It was previously considered a species of Eumicrotremus until a morphology-based revision in 2020 concluded that it represents the only known species of a distinct genus.
Eumicrotremus tokranovi is a species of lumpfish native to the Northwest Pacific, and one of two species some authorities place in the genus Microancathus. It is known from the Kuril Islands. It is distinguished from the closely related E. fedorovi by a taller body and flatter and less developed bone plaques. FishBase does not recognize the genus Microancathus,. This species was described by the Russian ichthyologist Olga Stepanovna Voskoboinikova in 2015 in the proposed new genus, Microancathus and the reclassification of M. fedorovi in that genus. Catalog of Fishes does not recognize the new genus and classifies this species in Eumicrotremus. The specific name honors the ichthyologist Alexei Mikhailovich Tokranovof the Kamchatka Branch of the Pacific Institute of Geography and the Far East Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Cyclopteroidea is a superfamily of ray-finned fishes within the order Scorpaeniformes. The superfamily comprises 2 families, the Cyclopteridae, the lumpsuckers, of the cool northern seas and the widespread Liparidae, the snailfishes. A common feature shared by these families is that they typically have the pelvic fins modified to form a disc shaped sucker.
Eumicrotremus fedorovi is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Cyclopteridae, the lumpfishes or lumpsuckers. This species is found in the northwestern Pacific Ocean around the Kuril Islands. It is a demersal fish that occurs at a depth range of 115 to 370 m. This species was first formally described in 1991 by Sergey Anatolyevich Mandritsa with its type locality given as the Rikord Strait. The specific name honours the Russian zoologist Vladimir Vladimirovich Fedorov who studied the holotype and suggested that it represented a new species.