Latin name

Leptoclinus maculatus

Other name

Spotted snakeblenny

Identification

The daubed shanny has a compressed head, a pointed snout, and a somewhat flattened top. Its eyes are large and round. Its snout is the same length as the diameter of its eye. The mouth is large. The upper and lower jaws have teeth arranged in two rows; the front row is larger and fang-like. Its body is strongly compressed from the sides and covered with fine scales that are difficult to see and easily fall off. Scales are also present on the cheeks. The anal opening is almost in the middle of the body.

Sexual dimorphism becomes more pronounced after maturation, when males exhibit faster somatic growth. This pronounced dimorphism is likely related to behavioral differences and different roles between males and females during the breeding season. Only adult males have large fangs at the tip of the upper jaw.

Features of fish fins

Dorsal spines (total): 57 - 60; Dorsal soft rays (total): 0; Anal spines: 1 - 2; Anal soft rays: 34 - 36.

The tail is rounded and the lower five thoracic rays are elongated and project forward. In the dorsal fin, the first six or seven barbed rays are free of each other and connected to the dorsum by a triangular webbing. The first barbed ray is positioned on the vertical plane of the posterior margin of the opercle.

Fish colouring

The daubed shanny is grayish yellow with irregularly shaped dark spots. Its cranial bones are transparent.

Distribution

This circumpolar species is distributed from the Arctic to temperate waters of the Northern Hemisphere. It is found from Arctic Alaska to the Sea of Okhotsk and the northern Sea of Japan. It is also found in Unalaska Island in the Aleutian Archipelago and Puget Sound in Washington, USA. In the North Atlantic, it is found from the Arctic to Labrador in Canada and along the coast of Scandinavia from Skagerrak to Finnmarken. It is also common in Murmansk, the White Sea, Iceland, and Greenland.

Habitat

This is a polar marine, bottom-dwelling species. Their habitat depths range from 2 to 607 meters.

Size

Males of this species reach a maximum length of 20.0 cm.

Behavior

Adults, juveniles, and late postlarvae inhabit sandy, muddy, or gravelly bottoms at depths of less than 170 meters. Early postlarvae, on the other hand, inhabit the open ocean. They use their elongated, finger-like lower pectoral fin rays to slowly crawl along the bottom.

Food and feeding habits

The daubed shanny's diet consists of polychaetes and crustaceans.

Reproduction

It is assumed that males are territorial creatures who protect their spawning grounds while females guard their eggs in their partners' territories.

Fishing

This species is not commercially important. They are caught in nets as bycatch in commercial fisheries.

Relationship with a person

Harmless.