Aurora pout

Description

The aurora pout is a small, elongate and eel-like eelpout of the family Zoarcidae reaching about 14 cm. The scaleless body is red-brown with pale cross-bars and has a continuous fin fringe over back, tail and belly; the pectoral fins are small and the pelvic fins almost absent. The species is adapted to cold, shallow polar water and lives on stone and rock bottoms of the Arctic coastal waters of the Arctic Ocean and adjacent seas, around Greenland and northern Canada. Hidden among stones it searches for small crustaceans, worms and molluscs. Like other eelpouts it lays relatively few, large eggs, guarded as a clutch by the parent. Because of its small size and remote habitat it is rarely seen.