Author: Collett, 1875
Cottunculus microps Collett, 1875
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Cottunculus microps Collett, 1875 (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: skin very rough. Head in dorsal view roundish, sides not markedly indented (maximum head width usually greater than head length); occipital protuberances usually blunt; D VI-VIII + 13-15; A 10-11; P 17-19; lateral line pores 13-15. Urogenital papilla long, 7-10% SL. Colour: greyish-brown with 3 or 4 broad, dark. vertical bands on side of body; pectoral fin light, with small dark blotches. Size: to about 30 cm SL, usually 9-14 cm.
Habitat: benthic at about 170-900 m. Food: includes polychaetes, mysids, amphipods and pycnogonids. Reproduction: spawning probably June-July, ovarian eggs large (to at least 4.5 mm diameter) and few (up to 220).
Distribution: primarily English Channel, North Sea, Norwegian coastline (type locality), Svalbard, south-western Barents Sea, off Spitzbergen, Bear I., the Faroes and Iceland, south-eastern coasts of Greenland. Elsewhere, western Atlantic from New Jersey to Gulf of St Lawrence and Greenland.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. Collett, 1880b: 19; 1902: 16 | Swenander, 1906: 12 | Rass, 1949: 12.
Otoliths (sagitta). Schmidt, 1968: 57, pl. 12 (fig. 161), pl. 23.