466 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



has been taken on Georges Bank also, and on 

 Browns, living in scallop shells (p. 465). 



Vladykov and McKenzie characterize it as "not 

 uncommon" all around Nova Scotia; 60 it is classed 

 by Huntsman as characteristic of the icy cold 

 water on the banks in the southern part of the 

 Gulf of St. Lawrence; and it has been reported 

 from the estuary of the St. Lawrence River; from 

 the northeastern part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence; 

 off the south coast of Newfoundland; on the Grand 

 Banks, and as far north on the Atlantic coast as 

 the entrance to the Strait of Belle Isle. 61 



Striped sea snail Liparis liparis (Linnaeus) 1766 



Sea snail 

 Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 2116. 



Figure 244. — Striped sea snail (Liparis liparis), side view 

 (above) and ventral view (below) of adult. After 

 Garman. 



Description.' — This little fish resembles the sea 

 snail (p. 464) so closely, especially in its tadpole-like 

 form, in the presence of a sucking disk on its chest, 

 in which the rays of the ventrals (reduced to mere 

 knobs) serve as a central support, and in the 

 peculiar outline of the pectoral fins with secondary 

 frilled basal lobes, that it is difficult to distinguish 

 one from the other. The most obvious difference 

 between the two species is that there is no indenta- 

 tion between the spiny and the soft parts of the 

 dorsal fin in the striped sea snail. Furthermore, 

 it usually has 33-35 rays in the soft portion of its 

 dorsal fin and 26-29 rays in its anal fin, as against 

 a maximum of 32 dorsal rays and of 27 anal rays 



» Proc. Nova Scotian Inst. Sci., vol. 19, 1935, p. 99. 



" From the trawllngs of the Newfoundland Fisheries Research Commission. 



in the other sea snail (p. 404) . And the separation 

 between the dorsal and anal fins and its caudal fin 

 is not as definite in the striped sea snail as it is 

 in the preceding species; in fact it is sometimes 

 difficult to draw a sharp line between the fins. 

 A minor character, which gives the head a rather 

 different aspect, is that the dorsal profile is more 

 arched in the striped sea snail. 



Color. — -Many color varieties of this fish have 

 been described and named. As a rule the ground 

 tint is of a shade of olive green, gray, or brown, 

 variously tinged with reddish, with yellowish, or 

 with lilac, and but little paler below than above. 

 Red ones with pale and dark stripes have been 

 seen among kelp in New England waters. And 

 they are dark and pale in endless variety in vary- 

 ing situations, some nearly plain, some definitely 

 striped with few or many narrow longitudinal 

 bands, others spotted. In fact no two are alike. 

 Usually the fins are darkly blotched or barred. 



Size. — This fish grows to a length of 10 inches 

 in Arctic seas but very few of them are more than 

 5 inches long in temperate latitudes. 



Habits. — All that is known of its habits in our 

 Gulf is that it fives on rocky or stony bottom, 

 usually among the stalks and roots of kelp to 

 which it sometimes clings fast, a habit which 

 European writers describe as common. In British 

 waters it is often to be found hiding in the tiny 

 pools of water that are left under pebbles by the 

 ebbing tide, and probably a search of the beaches 

 would reveal it in similar situations in the Gulf of 

 Maine also. Small ones often live inside the shells 

 of the giant scallop (Pecten magellanicus) , and it is 

 our impression (though not backed by any definite 

 evidence) that this is a more usual habit with the 

 striped sea snail than with the preceding one 

 (p. 465). At any rate, W. F. Clapp informs us 

 that it is the rule to find at least one or two striped 

 sea snails in a bushel or so of sea scallops, and 

 fishermen have told us that sea snails of one species 

 or the other (probably of both species) are found 

 in scallop shells on Georges Bank. 



Small crustaceans, chiefly amphipods and 

 shrimps of various kinds, have been found in the 

 stomachs of striped sea snails on both sides of the 

 Atlantic; they also feed on small shellfish, and they 

 were described by Fabricius 62 as eating small fish 

 fry and algae. 



" Fauna Qroenlandica, 1780, p. 137. 



