Eggs and late-stage embryos of Allocareproctus unangas (family Liparidae) from the Aleutian Islands

Abstract

Four unusual masses of adhesive fish eggs surrounding limbs of the octocoral Primnoa sp. were collected in Seguam Pass in the Aleutian Island Archipelago at a depth of 397 m. The eggs contained embryos in the flexion stage of development. When dissected and cleared and stained, counts of dorsal and anal fin rays and vertebrae allowed identification of the eggs as those of Allocareproctus unangas Orr and Busby, a newly described snailfish species. This is first report of snailfishes of the genus Allocareproctus, and of liparids other than those in the genus Liparis, spawning outside of lithodid crabs.