Blackline Prickleback (Acantholumpenus mackayi) caught along the Bering Sea Coast
Observation by Cynthia Paniyak:
One of our locals is out fishing for Herring and caught this in his net. This is an unusual fish for this area. We don't know what it is.
Jayde Ferguson, Fish Pathologist at the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, writes:
We think it is a prickleback. Our fish guru Shane Hertzog looked at the photo and thought it might specifically be a blackline prickleback (Acantholumpenus mackayi).
Comments by LEO Editors:
The blackline prickleback (Acantholumpenus mackayi) is a nearshore fish predominantly found off the coast of Japan, Alaska, and Canada in the Bering and Beaufort seas. An interactive map of blackline prickleback occurrences can be found at the Encyclopedia of Life Blackline Prickleback species profile. The NOAA publication, A Handy Field Guide to the Nearshore Marine Fishes of Alaska, includes the waters of southeast Alaska in the blackline pricklback distribution. These fish are found at a depth of approximately 56 meters in brackish water. They are present year-round, and feed on worms, crustaceans, sea urchins, and mollusks. Source: Encyclopedia of Life, Blackline Prickleback Species Profile, NOAA A Handy Field Guide to the Nearshore Marine Fishes of Alaska, pg. 94. Erica Lujan
