454 Pareioplitae, or Mailed-cheek Fishes 



watch the eggs. Cyclopterichthys ventricosus is a large species 

 with smooth skin from the North Pacific. 



The Sea-snails : Liparididae. The sea -snails, Liparididce are 

 closely related to the lumpfishes, but the body is more elongate, 



FIG. 406. Lumpfish, Cydopterus lumpus (Linnseus). Eastport, Me. 



tadpole shaped, covered with very lax skin, like the "wrinkled 

 skin on scalded milk." In structure the liparids are still more 

 degenerate than the lumpfishes. Even the characteristic ven- 



KIG. 407. Liparid, CrystalKas matsushimw (Jordan and Snyder). 

 Family Liparididce. Matsushima Bay, Japan. 



tral disk is lost in some species (Paraliparis; Amitra) and in 

 numerous others the tail is drawn out into a point (leptocercal), 

 a character almost always a result of degradation. The dorsal 

 spines are wanting or imbedded in the loose skin, and all trace 

 of spines on the head is lost, but the characteristic suborbital 

 stay is well developed. The numerous species are all small, 

 three to twelve inches in length. They live in Arctic waters, 



