The Rare Snailfish Menziesichthys alaid (Teleostei: Liparidae), Newly Recorded from the Southern Sea of Okhotsk and Bering Sea Slope, Now Transferred to the Genus Paraliparis

Abstract

Three specimens of a rare snailfish, Menziesichthys alaid Prokofiev and Iftime, 2020 (Teleostei: Perciformes: Liparidae), collected from Rausu, Hokkaido, Japan, the southern Sea of Okhotsk and Bering Sea Slope, represent the second and third records of the species, previously known only from two type specimens caught off the northern Kuril Islands. A detailed description (including selected osteological characters) based on the former three specimens, showed the species to differ from other snailfishes as follows: vertebrae 61–68; dorsal-fin rays 61; anal-fin rays 55–57; caudal-fin rays 3 or 4; no pelvic disk; a shallowly notched pectoral fin with 11–14 rays, lower lobe longer than upper lobe; teeth simple; cephalic pores 2-6-7-1, chin pores paired in separate pits, coronal pore present; lower tip of retroarticular pointed; gill slit large, extending to lower base of pectoral fin; stomach and peritoneum black. Because the species displays many diagnostic characters of Paraliparis Collett, 1879 rather than Menziesichthys Nalbant and Mayer, 1971, it is here regarded as a member of Paraliparis.