Slender Eelblenny, Lumpenus fabricii

The slender eelblenny is an elongate fish with a slender, tapering body, averaging 30 cm in length when full-grown. Its dorsal fin runs the length of the back, but is not uniform in width. Instead, it is slightly hump-shaped with the greatest width approximately three-quarters of the way down the back. The anal fin begins about one-third of the way along the belly and terminates at the caudal fin, which is straight with a slightly rounded end. The pectoral fins are large and fan-like, while the pelvic fins are much reduced. The fish is light brown in colour, with large pale, rounded blotches. The slender eelblenny resembles the other members of this genus so closely that taxonomists must use the number of teeth at maturity, or the number of rays in the fins to distinguish them.

This fish has a circumpolar and subarctic distribution, occurring in Hudson Bay, in the northern Gulf of St. Lawrence, off Greenland, in the Bering Sea, off the Murman coast, and Novaya Zembla. Unfortunately, despite its wide distribution, very few studies have examined its life history and ecology.