FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



343 



more rays in both its dorsal and its anal fins — 33 to 35 in the former and 2G to 29 

 in the latter as against a maximum of 32 dorsal and 27 anal in the other sea snail. 

 Neither is the separation of the dorsal and anal fins from the caudal fin as definite 

 in this species as in the preceding, and sometimes it is difficult to draw a sharp line 

 between the two fins. A minor difference, which gives the head a rather different 

 aspect, is that the dorsal profile is more arched. 



Color. — Many color varieties of this fish have been described and named. 

 As a rule the ground tint is some shade of olive green, gray, or brown, variously 

 tinged with reddish, yellowish, or lilac and but little paler above than below, but 

 red ones, pale and dark striped, have been seen among kelp in New England waters. 

 In varying situations they are dark and pale in endless variety, some nearly plain, 

 some definitely striped with few or many narrow longitudinal bands, others spotted, 

 and no two alike. Usuallv the fins are darkly blotched or barred. 



Fig. 16S. — Adult striped sea snail (Liparis Uparis), side view. After Garman 



Fig. 169. — Adult striped sea snail (Liparis liparis), venlral view. After Garman 



Size. — This fish grows to a length of 10 inches in Arctic seas but is seldom 

 more than 5 inches long in temperate latitudes. 



General range. — Both sides of the North Atlantic; north to Spitzbergen, 

 Davis Strait, Labrador, and circumpolar, south to France and to New York. 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — The distribution of this sea snail parallels 

 that of the preceding species in the Gulf. It has been dredged not uncommonly 

 in the Bay of Fundy region in from 5 to 100 fathoms and has been recorded from 

 Grand Manan, Eastport, and other localities on the Maine coast, here and there 

 about Massachusetts Bay, and also at Woods Hole. 



