Author: Linnaeus, 1758
Cyclopterus lumpus Linnaeus, 1758
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Cyclopterus lumpus Linnaeus, 1758 (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: body compressed, deep anteriorly. Head relatively small, less than 5 in SL. Gill openings large, extending below level of upper pectoral finray. Disc 6-7 in SL. First dorsal fin with 6-8 spines, completely covered by thick skin forming a charactenstic high crest; no spines
visible; second dorsal fin with 9-11 rays. Body depth varies from 2.0 times in SL in large specimens ( > 200 mm SL) to 3.0 times in individuals less than 30 mm SL. Bony tubercles well developed on head and body. Usually there are 3 distinct rows of large tubercles laterally, with much smaller tubercles scattered between the rows. Colour: variable; usually bluish-grey, yellow-green or yellow-brown. Spawning males are reddish on sides, fins and ventral surface. Size: to 61 cm; weight to 9.5 kg, but usually much smaller.
Habitat: benthic on rocky bottoms usually between 50 and 150 m, but occasionally to 400 m; may occur in floating seaweed. Food: feeding more intensive in the winter; favoured are ctenophores, medusae, small crustaceans, polychaetes and small fishes. Reproduction: move inshore to spawn, in summer in waters of about 8°C; may have up to about 300,000 eggs, 2.2 2.7 mm in diameter, in masses of 15,000-100,000; male guards egg-mass aggressively.
Distribution: throughout the Clofnam area north of 45° N latitude in appropriate habitats; rarely off coast of Portugal and southern Bay of Biscay. Elsewhere, known from western Greenland, Hudson Bay, and the coasts of North America as far south as Maryland.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Smitt, 1893-1895: 293, fig. 74 | Collett, 1902: 77 | Ehrenbaum, 1905-1909: 116, fig. 51 | Cox and Anderson, 1922: 1-20, 13 fig. | Rass, 1929: 18 | Merriman and Sclar, 1952: 191 | Ueno, 1970: fig. 65.
Otoliths (sagitta). W. Schmidt, 1968, pl. 12 (fig. 164).