Lipophrys pholis
The Shan, rare mucus lark ( Lipophrys pholis ) is a species of blennies, which is prevalent in the northeastern Atlantic.
Features
The Shan has an elongated and laterally flattened body and, like all representatives of the blennies no scales. It reaches a body length of up to 18 centimeters. The head is large and come not, as in other species with tentacles, large eyes are placed high on the sides of the head, and the mouth extends to below the eye. The dyeing may vary considerably: in general, the body is brown to olivaceous with 6-7 transom and white dots are arranged in rows.
The dorsal fin extends from the head restraint until shortly before the transition to the single-piece tail fin and has an indentation in the transition area between the 11 to 12 hard and the 18 to 20 members and soft rays. The thread-like pelvic fins are throat constantly, are therefore present in the pectoral fins and consist of a hard and 3 soft rays. The paired pectoral fins have 13 rays in the anal fin and two hard jets and 19 soft rays. The swim bladder is absent all blennies.
Dissemination
The Shan can be found in the coastal areas of the Northeast Atlantic from Norway to Morocco, including the North Sea and in the Mediterranean.
Way of life
The fish live in the bay area on rocky shores and in tide pools as ground fish in depths of up to about eight meters, where they retreat to deeper areas in winter. When threatened, the Shan hides in seaweed stocks and crevices. It feeds on small benthic invertebrates such as barnacles, small crustaceans such as amphipods and snails.
The females spawn from April to August in most three spawning periods and lay eggs under rocks and in crevices in the tidal influenced area from. The eggs are colored sticky and yellow, they have a size of 0.8 to 1.2 millimeters. The males guard the nests of several females and fanning them, so have active brood care. After six to eight weeks, the young fish hatch with a length of five millimeters. The total life of the Schans can be more than ten years.