Author: Günther, 1888
Triglops murrayi Günther, 1888
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Triglops murrayi Günther, 1888 (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: body moderately elongate, caudal peduncle 4.1-4.7% SL; oblique and fairly broad skin folds with finely serrated edges below lateral line (rarely with additional folds). Head fairly deep, its depth at eye 15.9-17.2% SL; eye moderate, 10.2-11.2% SL, less than post-orbital length of head; snout shorter and blunter than in T. pingeli. Tips of sixth and seventh pectoral finrays elongate, forming a small paddle. D X-XII + 18-24; A 18-25; P 16-19;1.1. 46-48. Vertebrae 42-47. Colour: brownish, with 4 distinct dark bands on back, becoming irregular blotches or rarely a broken line below lateral line; dorsal fins with 2-3 oblique bands of small dark spots, and a black patch on hind part of
spinous dorsal in males; pectoral fin with 3-4 curved bands; anal fin without stripes, but 3 (rarely 2 or 4) dark transverse stripes on caudal fin. Peritoneum light (silver), with some dots of pigment on upper part. Size: to 19.2 cm SL, usually 8-14 cm.
Habitat: benthic on sandy bottoms at 50-250 (300) m, with temperatures of 1-3 °C (6-12°C in White Sea) and salinities not less than 34 (23.6-28.6 in White Sea). Food: benthic polychaetes and crustaceans (Caprella, Atypes, Eupagurus). Reproduction: spawns in late autumn and winter; eggs demersal, about 100-200, diameter over 2 mm.
Distribution: southern tip of Spitzbergen, Bear I. south to White Sea and along Scandinavian coasts to Skagerrak and Kattegat; also, north and west of Scotland, the Faroes, the Orkneys, northern coasts of Iceland and western coast of Greenland (Gotthob to Egedesmunde). Elsewhere, western Norlh Atlantic south to Cape Cod (T. murrayi ommatistius Gilbert).
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Pertseva, 1939: 459 | Rass, 1949: 12 | Andriashev, 1954: 355.
Otoliths (sagitta). Schmidt, 1968: 57, pl. 11 (fig. 159), pl. 23.