REVISION OF THE FISHES OF THE FAMILY LIPARIDAE 



By Victor Burke 



0/ the State College of Washington, Pullman 



INTRODUCTION 



The following report consists of a biological and taxonomic study of 

 the fishes belonging to the family Liparidae. The writer, as an assist- 

 ant upon the United States Bureau of Fisheries steamer Albatross 

 during the Japanese cruise of 1906, became interested in the many 

 new and peculiar species of Liparidae that were continually being 

 brought up by the dredge. Later, when assisting in the preparation 

 of reports on these fishes, it became evident that the published ac- 

 counts of the Liparidae were very unsatisfactory and that with the 

 acquisition of so many new species a thorough review of the family 

 would be most timely. It was seen also that the Liparidae, repre- 

 sented as it is at all depths from the tide pools down to 2,000 fathoms, 

 is a faverable group in which to study the modification of structure and 

 color due to the enviornment of the deep sea. This led to the exten- 

 sion of the subject matter of the report into two parts. 



Part 1 consists of (1) a general account of the modification of 

 structure and color throughout the family; (2) the distribution, both 

 horizontal and bathymetrical ; (3) the relation between the bathy- 

 metrical distribution and the coloration; (4) summary. 



Part 2 consists mainly of a taxonomic review of the family. The 

 descriptions of those species which have been adequately described 

 elsewhere have been reduced to a brief synopsis of important char- 

 acters together with an account of the distribution and a discussion 

 of relationships. Keys to the genera and species are included. In 

 addition the taxonomic value and modification of the specific char- 

 acters of the three genera, Liparis, Careproctus, and Paraliparis, are 

 described. 



Genera. — Thirteen genera are recognized in this report. A num- 

 ber of the old genera have been reduced to synonomy. I have fol- 

 lowed Garman and other writers in not recoginzing Neoliparis Stein- 

 dachner. The notch in the dorsal fin, upon which this genus was 

 based, is not of specific value in Liparis dennyi and other inter- 



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