Author: Reinhardt, 1837
Anisarchus medius Reinhardt, 1837
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Anisarchus medius (Reinhardt, 1837) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: body elongate, depth about 10 times in SL. Scales on cheeks greatly reduced; gill openings reaching forward under head to at least vertical from middle of eye; lower lip thin, continuous. Dorsal fin with all rays spiny, anterior spines not free but connected by a membrane; dorsal and anal fins joined to caudal fin, which is rounded. Colour: body light yellowish, usually with faint darker patches. Size: to 18 cm SL, usually 10-15 cm.
Habitat: demersal on muddy bottoms at 10-150 m (more often 30-100 m), generally preferring water below O °C and salinities above 30°/00. Food: small benthic invertebrates (polychaetes, bivalves, crustaceans). Reproduction: no data.
Distribution: Murman coast (Motovsky Bay, 69° 30' N, 32° 30' E) eastward along Siberian coasts (to Chukchi Sea; not as yet in East Siberian Sea), White Sea, Spitsbergen, south-eastern coasts of Greenland (not Iceland). Elsewhere: Labrador to Gulf of St Lawrence.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Knipowitch, 1901a: 68 (larvae and juveniles) | Ehrenbaum, 1905-1909: 81, fig. 34 | Rass, 1949: 37, fig. 14.
Otoliths (sagitta). No data.