Lycodes pacificus
Blackbelly Eelpout
NS
G5
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
There are no photos available for this taxon yet.
Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Perciformes (Perciformes, Also Called the Acanthopteri)
Zoarcidae (Eelpouts)
Lycodes
Lycodes pacificus (Blackbelly Eelpout)
Description
This species account was compiled from
FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2025. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version 04/2025.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
It may contain errors in spelling, punctuation, or formatting.
When citing, please reference the original source rather than this page.
Learn more about our species accounts.
Characters
Body shape: elongated. Caudal sharply rounded but not readily distinguishable from dorsal and anal fins. Pelvic fins minute.
Distribution
Eastern Pacific: Gulf of Alaska to northern Baja California, Mexico.
Habitat Associations
Marine. bathydemersal. depth range 9-399 m.
Biology
Found on silty or sandy bottoms (Ref. 27436). Moves into shallow water at night to feed on marine worms, crustaceans, small bivalves, and brittle stars (Ref. 6885, 27436). Few live over 5 years (Ref. 6885). If used live as bait, it attracts large rockfishes, greenlings or codfishes (Ref. 27436). Flesh considered good but not esteemed (Ref. 27436).
Max length: 46.0 cm TL; max age: 5 years.
IUCN Red List Status: N.E. (N.E.). Resilience: Low (Ave. Fec=30).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: subsistence fisheries.
References
Eschmeyer, W.N., E.S. Herald and H. Hammann (1983) A field guide to Pacific coast fishes of North America. Boston (MA, USA): Houghton Mifflin Company. xii+336 p.
Clemens, W.A. and G.V. Wilby (1961) Fishes of the Pacific coast of Canada. 2nd ed. Fish. Res. Bd. Canada Bull. (68):443 p.
Hart, J.L. (1973) Pacific fishes of Canada. Bull. Fish. Res. Board Can. 180:740 p.
Anderson, M.E. (1994) Systematics and osteology of the Zoarcidae (Teleostei: Perciformes). Ichthyol. Bull. J.L.B. Smith Inst. Ichthyol. 60:120 p.
Comments On Lycodes pacificus