Merret's snailfish | |
---|---|
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Scorpaeniformes |
Family: | Liparidae |
Genus: | Careproctus |
Species: | C. merretti |
Binomial name | |
Careproctus merretti Andriashev & Chernova, 1988 | |
Merret's snailfish (Careproctus merretti), also called the snakehead snailfish, [2] is a species of fish in the family Liparidae. [3] [4]
It is named for the British ichthyologist Nigel Merrett (born 1940). [5]
Merret's snailfish is silvery-pink in colour, with a black peritoneum. Its maximum length is 20.5 centimetres (8.1 in). [6] It has 69 vertebrae. Its hypural plate (expanded ends of the hypurals that form a wide, fan-like plate onto which the caudal fin rays are attached) is single, and there are no epurals. [7] [8]
Merret's snailfish lives in the Porcupine Abyssal Plain; it is bathydemersal and non-migratory, living at depths of up to 3,990 m (13,090 ft). [7] [9]
The snailfishes or sea snails are a family of marine ray-finned fishes. These fishes make up the Liparidae, which is classified within the order Scorpaeniformes.
Nigel Robert Merrett is a British zoologist and ichthyologist and former director of the fish section of the British Natural History Museum.
Careproctus is a genus of snailfishes found in benthic and benthopelagic habitats in the Atlantic, Pacific, Arctic and Southern Oceans. Whether they truly are absent from the Indian Ocean is unknown and might be an artifact of limited sampling. They range from shallow coastal seas in the far north of their range to the abyssal zone, at depths of 6 to 5,459 m (20–17,910 ft). In the Northern Hemisphere they mostly live shallower than Paraliparis, but this pattern is reversed in the Southern Hemisphere. Although almost entirely restricted to very cold waters, a single species, C. hyaleius, lives at hydrothermal vents.
The smallmouth spiny eel, also called the shortspine tapirfish, is a species of deep-sea spiny eel.
The hollowsnout grenadier, also called the blackspot grenadier, is a species of fish in the family Macrouridae.
The salmon smooth-head, also called the deepsea slickhead, is a species of fish in the family Alepocephalidae.
Thalassobathia pelagica is a species of fish in the family Bythitidae. It is sometimes referred to by the common name pelagic brotula.
Polymetme thaeocoryla is a species of fish in the family Phosichthyidae (lightfish).
Kamryn Paraliparis abyssorum is a species of fish in the family Liparidae (snailfish).
Leptochilichthys agassizii, or Agassiz' smooth-head, is a species of fish in the family Alepocephalidae. It is named for the scientist and engineer Alexander Agassiz (1835–1910), who commanded the 1899 survey aboard the USS Albatross on which the fish was discovered.
Careproctus aciculipunctatus, also called the speckled snailfish, is a species of fish in the family Liparidae (snailfish).
Paraliparis hystrix is a species of fish in the family Liparidae (snailfish).
Paraliparis bipolaris is a species of fish in the family Liparidae (snailfish).
The glasshead grenadier is a species of fish in the family Macrouridae.
The bigeye rockling is a species of fish in the family Lotidae.
Bigelow's ray, also called the chocolate skate or Bigelow's skate, is a species of skate in the family Rajidae. It is named in honour of the oceanographer Henry Bryant Bigelow.
Maul's searsid, also called Maul's tubeshoulder, is a species of fish in the family Platytroctidae (tubeshoulders), named for Günther Maul.
Lycenchelys alba is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Zoarcidae, the eelpouts.
Lyconus brachycolus is a species of hake fish in the family Merlucciidae.
Careproctus spiraki, or pimpled snailfish, is a small, marine, bottom-dwelling snailfish. The type specimen was collected in a bottom trawl 457 meters deep in Seguam Pass in the Aleutian Islands. The species was first described to science by J. W. Orr in 2021.