The Pacific spiny lumpsucker (''Eumicrotremus orbis'') is a species of

bony fish Osteichthyes (), popularly referred to as the bony fish, is a diverse superclass of fish that have skeletons primarily composed of bone tissue. They can be contrasted with the Chondrichthyes, which have skeletons primarily composed of cartilag ...

in the family Cyclopteridae.

Description

Pacific spiny lumpsuckers are a globular-shaped fish that typically measures in length, though the most common size is . It has a maximum known length of around . They have a wide mouth with large lips, and protruding eyes. The fish also has a squared

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through conv ...

, rounded

caudal fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

, and thin, transparent

pectoral fin Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as ...

s. The lumpsucker's

pelvic fin Pelvic fins or ventral fins are paired fins located on the ventral surface of fish. The paired pelvic fins are homologous to the hindlimbs of tetrapods. Structure and function Structure In actinopterygians, the pelvic fin consists of two en ...

s have evolved into a large, fringed suction cup, allowing it to attach to surfaces. This sucker also compensates the fish for its lack of gas bladder. Because of their large, rounded shape with small fins, Pacific spiny lumpsuckers are ineffective swimmers and are most commonly found attached to solid objects. They do not have scales. Instead, the body of the fish is covered in cone-shaped plates, called

tubercle In anatomy, a tubercle (literally 'small tuber', Latin for 'lump') is any round nodule, small eminence, or warty outgrowth found on external or internal organs of a plant or an animal. In plants A tubercle is generally a wart-like projection ...

s. Females have more tubercles than males. The Pacific spiny lumpsucker is seen in many colors, including brown and green, often with yellow or orange highlights. Females are dull green in color, while males are dull orange to reddish brown.

Behavior

Pacific spiny lumpsuckers are often found alone in nature. When disturbed, they swim about aimlessly, hindered by their inefficient swimming. Instead, the fish relies on effective camouflage to avoid detection from predators. They are considered harmless to humans. In fact, they are known to eat out of the hands of divers.

Distribution and habitat

Pacific spiny lumpsuckers are found from northern

Washington state Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

, especially

Puget Sound Puget Sound ( ) is a sound of the Pacific Northwest, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean, and part of the Salish Sea. It is located along the northwestern coast of the U.S. state of Washington. It is a complex estuarine system of interconnected ma ...

, to the

Aleutian Islands The Aleutian Islands (; ; ale, Unangam Tanangin,”Land of the Aleuts", possibly from Chukchi language, Chukchi ''aliat'', "island"), also called the Aleut Islands or Aleutic Islands and known before 1867 as the Catherine Archipelago, are a cha ...

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., ...

. They can also be found in the

Bering Sea The Bering Sea (, ; rus, Бе́рингово мо́ре, r=Béringovo móre) is a marginal sea of the Northern Pacific Ocean. It forms, along with the Bering Strait, the divide between the two largest landmasses on Earth: Eurasia and The Ameri ...

, the

Chukchi Sea Chukchi Sea ( rus, Чуко́тское мо́ре, r=Chukotskoye more, p=tɕʊˈkotskəjə ˈmorʲɪ), sometimes referred to as the Chuuk Sea, Chukotsk Sea or the Sea of Chukotsk, is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean. It is bounded on the west b ...

and around northern

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. This species inhabits a wide variety of habitats, including eelgrass beds, rocky reefs, kelp patches, and other algae growth. They are also found around shallow bays and docks. The fish lives in near-shore waters to a depth of .

Ecology

Diet

Pacific spiny lumpsuckers feed on slow

crustacean 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 group ...

s, polychaete worms, and

mollusks 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 ...

on the sandy or muddy sea floor.

Reproduction

The species is known to spawn in shallow, warmer waters between the months of July and October. The females lay large, spherical, orange-colored eggs on rocks, in sheltered holes. Females typically lay around 200 eggs at a time in the nest and the male fertilizes them. After the eggs are laid, the male attaches himself to a nearby surface where he cares for the eggs by defending them from predators and circulating water over them with his fin.

Predators

Pacific cod, sablefish, marine sculpins, and

lancefish A sand lance or sandlance is a fish belonging to the family Ammodytidae. Several species of sand lances are commonly known as "sand eels", though they are not related to true eels. Another variant name is launce, and all names of the fish are ...

are known predators of pacific spiny lumpsuckers.

Crab Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" (abdomen) ( el, βραχύς , translit=brachys = short, / = tail), usually hidden entirely under the thorax. They live in all the ...

s, sea stars and small fishes prey on lumpfish eggs.

Climate change

While the Pacific spiny lumpsucker has not yet been evaluated by the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biol ...

, climate change may pose a threat to the species. The fish relies on shallow waters for breeding and eelgrass for habitat.

Rising sea levels Rising may refer to: * Rising, a stage in baking - see Proofing (baking technique) *Elevation * Short for Uprising, a rebellion Film and TV * "Rising" (''Stargate Atlantis''), the series premiere of the science fiction television program ''Starga ...

and warmer water temperatures threaten these habitats, and the species' survival.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2940277 Cyclopteridae Fish of the Americas Fish of the Pacific Ocean Taxa named by Albert Günther Fish described in 1861