Snailfish and Skeletor

Underwater at a macro site in Gambier Bay, Alaska, we stumbled across some very beautiful fish. Among a field of skeleton shrimp, these rather large snailfish (3-6") had nearly translucent milky skin with golden-brown spots, and were impervious to the proximity of the camera. We saw both single individuals and what appeared to be mated pairs (larger and smaller fish together, with the smaller consistently exhibiting a slightly yellower skin tone). When not briefly free-swimming to evade the annoyance of shrimp claws, the snailfish would curl their tails nearly to their eyes.

Does anyone know exactly what species this is?

Cant help You with the species, but it's a great shot Matt

Cheers

Karel

Wow, amazing fish!

That is a cool fish!

Alex

Wow, how cool is that! Are these at all related to Clingfish?

Cheers,

Jim.

Very cool. I have searched all of my North Eastern Pacific references, and there is noting with this pattern. I wonder if it might be a variation of a Marbled snailfish?

Cheers,

Marli

Wow, very nice. We see snailfishes here but they are quite different.

Jack

beautiful!

Thanks for the kind words everyone.

Though I am keen to figure out what it might be. Marli (or others), are you in touch with any north pacific ichthyologists that could have an idea?

I will circulate the photo among some colleagues Matt, will let you know.

Edit, upon further examination I am thinking this might be a juvenile Blacktail Snailfish, check the site below:

http://hmsc.oregonstate.edu/projects/msap/...lsnailfish.html

If that's the case this is the first time it is recorded in shallow waters. What depth was it photographed?

Thanks Luiz; we found the individuals in depths of approximately 50-70 feet. I have a number of photos, if you find there's interest.

Do the juveniles lose their spots as they mature? The tails were spotted with the same pattern as the body (no change) and did not have the distinct black coloration that an image at Fishbase shows for the species. I note on the MSAP page that they say "may be a Blacktail...."

Yeah, the spots are odd for that species, but some people say that as they grow the spots fade and the tail gets darker. So definitely not sure on the ID. I will forward the image to some specialists, but I am sure that whatever it is, it will be something interesting as most species in this family don't come that shallow.

I did some quick searching related to that species, and found Crystallichthys cyclospilus. A few attributed images seem to match.

Fishbase puts their range much farther north ("southern Bering Sea and Aleutian Islands"), and at 50m-830m depths. Looks like they might be getting a range extension?

Alright Matt, I got confirmation that it is Crystallichthys cyclospilus. It is a significant geographic and depth range expansion though, not to mention the first photo of a live specimen, really cool.

Cooool!! Congrats Matt

Congratulations for your picture !! C'est magnifique