The fourbeard rockling or four-bearded rockling (''Enchelyopus cimbrius'') is a species of lotid fish found in the northern Atlantic Ocean. This species grows to in total length. It is of minor importance in commercial fisheries.

Description

The fourbeard rockling is a long, slender fish named for its four barbels, one of which is on the chin and the others on the snout. The vent is halfway along the body and behind that, the body is laterally compressed. The anterior dorsal fin has one prominent long ray and is otherwise short and low. The posterior dorsal fin is very long and of even height. The anal fin is also long and the pelvic fins are in front of the pectorals. The caudal peduncle is very short and the caudal fin is rounded. The skin is slimy and the scales are not easy to see. The dorsal surface is generally brownish with sometimes some irregular darker blotches at the posterior end. The flanks and belly are silvery grey. The fins are a bluish colour with darker trailing edges to the dorsal, anal and caudal fins. The size of this fish is usually between with a maximum length of .

Distribution and habitat

The fourbeard rockling is found in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean from northern Gulf of Mexico to

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

and western Greenland, and in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean from the

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay (), known in Spain as the Gulf of Biscay ( es, Golfo de Vizcaya, eu, Bizkaiko Golkoa), and in France and some border regions as the Gulf of Gascony (french: Golfe de Gascogne, oc, Golf de Gasconha, br, Pleg-mor Gwaskogn), ...

to Iceland and the Barents Sea, the western Baltic Sea and occasionally in the

Gulf of Finland The Gulf of Finland ( fi, Suomenlahti; et, Soome laht; rus, Фи́нский зали́в, r=Finskiy zaliv, p=ˈfʲinskʲɪj zɐˈlʲif; sv, Finska viken) is the easternmost arm of the Baltic Sea. It extends between Finland to the north and E ...

. It has become a

near-threatened species A near-threatened species is a species which has been categorized as "Near Threatened" (NT) by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as that may be vulnerable to endangerment in the near future, but it does not currently qualify fo ...

in the Baltic. It migrates offshore in spring and inshore in autumn. Its depth range is about .

Biology

The fourbeard rockling is a bottom-dwelling fish which feeds on

crustacea Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean gro ...

ns,

polychaete worms Polychaeta () is a paraphyletic class of generally marine annelid worms, commonly called bristle worms or polychaetes (). Each body segment has a pair of fleshy protrusions called parapodia that bear many bristles, called chaetae, which are m ...

mollusc Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is esti ...

s and other invertebrates. It usually breeds between February and August, releasing the spawn in deep water after which the eggs float towards the surface.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:rockling, fourbeard fourbeard rockling Fish of the North Atlantic Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus fourbeard rockling