The benthic snailfish Liparis tanakai (GILBERT et BURKE) is widely known from the East China Sea, Yellow Sea, Gulf of Po-Hai, Japan Sea, and the Pacific coasts of northern Japan, although its occurrence in the Seto Inland Sea located in southwestern Japan and its adjacent waters has been fragmentarily reported since 1970. The occurrence of the species in the Seto Inland Sea was confirmed by comparing the specimens with those from other localities. Many findings of the species around the Kui Peninsula, no capture record from Tosa Bay, the presence of a large cold water mass in the Enshu-nada Sea, and a coastal front formed during winter in the Kui Channel suggest that more snailfishes invaded the Seto Inland Sea through the Kui Channel than the Kan-mon Channel during winter. In addition, an extreme cold wave seems to promote the invasion.
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