Stichaeidae
(subfamily Chirolophinae sensu Makushok, 1958)
by V. M. Makushok
Body comparatively robust, to about 22.5 cm in Clofnam area. Head and adjacent parts of body with fleshy appendages, often branched; mouth frog-like; gill openings not continued forward, membranes broadly joined but free from isthmus, branchiostegal rays 6. Sensory canals present on head. Dorsal fin long, from a little behind head to caudal peduncle; anal fin also long; pectoral fins large; pelvic fins in advance of pectoral fins (jugular), with I + 3 finrays (the soft finrays not branched). Scales small, lateral line represented by a dorsal and a medio-lateral branch of neuromasts (the former begins as a short canal, with 4-5 pores in Chirolophis).
Habitat: benthic, usually over rocks and among seaweeds, never in intertidal zone, at 20 m, but descending to 100-280 m. Food: bottom invertebrates (small molluscs, polychaetes, hydroids, sponges), also algae. Reproduction: commonly in October/November; eggs in flattened masses (about the size of a chicken's egg) on stones, the eggs 2.3-2.8 mm in diameter; post-larvae occur in January-April (western English Channel), April-June (Murman coast), May/June (Iceland); fry pelagic.
Genera 4; 1 in Clofnam area.
Recent revision: Makushok (1958-English translation 1961).
Note. The family Stichaeidae includes 8 subfamilies (see Makushok, 1958), which were reduced to tribal status within 3 subfamilies by Nelson (1984: 330-331).