Montagu's seasnail

Drawing of Liparis montagui from a work by Samuel Garman.

The little disc abdomen ( Liparis montagui ) is a species of the family of disc Bellies ( Liparidae ). It occurs around the British Isles, on the shores of the North Sea and on the coast of Norway, in the southwestern Barents Sea, at Bear Island, Spitzbergen, and on the south coast of Iceland in the northeastern Atlantic. Unlike its close relatives, the great wheel belly, he is missing in the Baltic Sea.

Features

The little slice belly is 10 to 12 cm long. The fish are tadpole with a large head and a rear tapering body. Like all disc bellies, it has the characteristic formed by the pelvic fins suction disc. Unlike the Great disc belly the long dorsal fin never overlaps the final straight tail fin. The anal fin overlaps the caudal approach in rare cases. Small disc bellies are brownish in color and show no pattern.

Way of life

The little slice abdominal lives from extremely shallow water to depths of 30 meters and sometimes stays under stones on or attaches itself with its suction cup to seaweed or seaweed It feeds mainly on crustaceans, including amphipods, shrimps and small crabs. The fish proliferate in the winter months and spawn including the Wadden Sea.