Author: Collett, 1875
Micrenophrys lilljeborgi Collett, 1875
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Micrenophrys lilljeborgii (Collett, 1875) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: as for genus, but also upper preopercular spine long and strong, not reaching to hind edge of opercular flap; upper jaw with small barbel at corner of mouth. D VIII-IX + 11-12; A 6-9; P 15-16. Vertebrae 32. Colour: overall reddish-olive, with 4 dark cross-bands on back and upper flanks; head yellowish, with 1 dark band; distinct black spot on spinous dorsal fin; breeding males with a red crossband on head and red patches on flanks. Size: to 7.4 cm SL, usually 4-6 cm.
Habitat: benthic on hard bottoms (gravel or shells) or among algae at O-90 m (Wheeler, 1978), with temperatures below 0°C, occasionally in brackish water (28.5). Food: small crustaceans (amphipods, decapods) and fishes. Reproduction: spawns in early spring; eggs demersal, in clumps on bottom, diameter 2 mm; larvae pelagic.
Distribution: off Denmark, around British Isles and across to Iceland, also northward along Norwegian coasts to Namdahl (65°N). Pelagic larvae spreading to western Murman and Icelandic waters.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. McIntosh and Prince, 1890: 861-862, pl. XVII (fig. 11) | Holt, 1893: 117 | Holt and Calderwood, 1895: 414 | McIntosh and Masterman, 1897: 131-134, 462, pl. V (fig. 11) | Schmidt, 1909: 226 | Bruun, 1925: 3-13, fig. 1-3 | Saemundsson, 1927: 10 | Ehrenbaum, 1936: 186, fig. 169 | Bruun, 1941: 323-329, pl. II (fig. 1-2) | Rass, 1941: 10 (fig. 4);1949: 12, 25, 41-42, 58, fig. 18.
Otoliths (sagitta). No data.