Lumpfish (redirected from lumpfishes)

Lumpfish 

(Cyclopterus lumpus), a fish of the family Cyclop-teridae. The lumpfish is usually 25–40 cm long (sometimes reaching 60 cm) and weighs up to 2–3 kg. The body is thick and covered with longitudinal rows of large bony tubercles. The ventral fins are converted into a sucking disk.

The lumpfish is distributed in the North Atlantic. It is a bottom-dwelling fish that stays in coastal waters. The fish attains sexual maturity in the third or fourth year. It spawns in the Barents and White seas from May through July. The female deposits from 79,000 to 136,000 large roe (2.7 mm) in the littoral zone. The roe, which are deposited in clusters in two or three stages, are guarded by the male. Lumpfish feed on benthic invertebrates. They are of minor commercial value: the roe, the liver, and the flesh are edible.