gill] 



THE LUMPSUCKER 



I8l 



Cycloptcrichthys has the skin perfectly smooth and the dorsal short, 

 as in the other Cyclopterids. The only species (C. ventricosus) is an 

 inhabitant of Bering- Sea. 1 



Fig. 42. — Cycloptcrichthys ventricosus. After Steindachner. 



Liparops has the skin in front of the dorsal surmounted by a row 

 of bony tubercles and the dorsal comparatively long. A single spe- 

 cies (L. stcllcri) is known from Kamchatka. 



Ill 



The genus Cyclopterus has as the chief distinctive characters a 

 massive body, very high arched back, skin covered with large tuber- 

 cles in seven rows, a median dorsal and three lateral on each side, 

 and much smaller scattered tubercles over the rest of body and head, 

 small head, moderate branchial apertures (large in comparison with 

 other genera of the family, extending from a level above the eyes 

 to the front of the pectorals), the soft dorsal and anal pushed far 

 back and opposite, and the spinous atrophied and concealed by the 

 overgrown tubercles in adults. The type and only known species is 

 the strange-looking and celebrated Lumpsucker. 



The name Cyclopterus (meaning circular fin) was given by Lin- 

 nseus in allusion to the circular form of the combined ventral fins. 



1 A second nominal species has been added to Cycloptcrichthys and named 

 C. omissus. It is based on a sketch of a fish caught at Telly Bay, Magellan 

 Strait, made by a naval officer, and was the only material Professor Vaillant had 

 to determine the species. It has, however, been admitted by Mr. Garman (The 

 Discoboli, 1892, p. 42), who has cited "Gill, 1891, Pr. U. S. Nat. Mus., xin, 

 366," as also adopting it. The present writer, however, especially stated "the 

 so-called Cycloptcrichthys omissus has no real standing in the ichthyological 

 system." 



