''Acantholiparis opercularis'', or the spiny snailfish, is one of two species within the

snailfish The Liparidae, commonly known as snailfish or sea snails, are a Family (biology), family of Saltwater fish, marine Scorpaeniformes, scorpaeniform fishes. Widely distributed from the Arctic Ocean, Arctic to Antarctic Oceans, including the ocea ...

genus '' Acantholiparis''. The generic name comes from the Greek ''akantha'' meaning "thorn" and ''liparis'' meaning "fat". The specific name comes from the Latin ''opercularis'', meaning covered (as in a lid).

Size

The spiny snailfish is a small fish, with a length up to 7 cm.

Habitat

The spiny snailfish is a deep-water fish, known from depths between 227 m and 3600 m. It is a

demersal fish Demersal fish, also known as groundfish, live and feed on or near the bottom of seas or lakes (the demersal zone).Walrond Carl . "Coastal fish - Fish of the open sea floor"Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Updated 2 March 2009 They occ ...

, living just above the seabed.

Range

''Acantholiparis opercularis'' lives generally near the coast, over a wide range stretching as a crescent from

Kamchatka The Kamchatka Peninsula (russian: полуостров Камчатка, Poluostrov Kamchatka, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and wes ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

and as far south as the coast of

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2501624 Liparidae Fish described in 1912 Fish of the Pacific Ocean