Lycodes frigidus - MorphoCat

E: Glacial eelpout, N: Arktisk ålebrosme

Identification

Habitat

Geographical Distribution:
- Mohn’s Treasure (Ramirez-Llodra et al., 2020)
- Fåvne (Gjærløw, 2023)
- DeepInsight (Marnor et al., 2025)
Depth: 475-3580 m, usually deeper than 1000 m (Mecklenburg et al., 2018)

Ecology

Mobility: Mobile
Food Web:
- Eats: fish, bottom crustaceans (isopods, amphipods, shrimps), ophiuroids, cephalopods, molluscs, polychaetes (Coad & Reist (2004); Bjelland et al. (2000))
- Eaten by: Arctic skate (Amblyraja hyperborea) (Byrkjedal et al., 2014)

Life History

Reproduction: Observed guarding eggs inside a sediment cave (Marnor et al., 2025)

Conservation Status

Red List: Least concern (LC) (Norwegian Red List, 2021)

Comments

General: Observed in sedimentary caves guarding eggs in the DeepInsight area (Marnor et al., 2025)

References

Ramirez-Llodra, Eva and Hilario, Ana and Paulsen, Emil and Costa, Carolina Ventura and Bakken, Torkild and Johnsen, Geir and Rapp, Hans Tore (2020). Benthic Communities on the Mohn's Treasure Mound: Implications for Management of Seabed Mining in the Arctic Mid-Ocean Ridge. Frontiers in Marine Science. DOI Link
Gjærløw, Sofie (2023). Characterisation of Megabenthic Community Structure at the Fåvne Hydrothermal Vent Field, with Implications for Environmental Management of Seabed Mining. Link
Marnor, Camilla M. and Souche, Alban and Hartz, Ebbe H. and Jæger, Maja L. and Schmid, Daniel W. (2025). Deep-sea sedimentary cave structures: geology or fish-made? Frontiers in Marine Science. DOI Link
Mecklenburg, Catherine W. and Lynghammar, Arve and Johannesen, Edda and Byrkjedal, Ingvar and Christiansen, Jørgen S. and Dolgov, Andrey V. and Karamushko, Oleg V. and Mecklenburg, T. Anthony and Møller, Peter R. and Steinke, Dirk and Wienerroither, Rupert M. (2018). Marine Fishes of the Arctic Region: Volume 1. Conservation of Arctic Flora and Fauna. Link
Byrkjedal, I. and Christiansen, J. S. and Karamushko, O. V. and Langhelle, G. and Lynghammar, A. (2014). Arctic skate Amblyraja hyperborea preys on remarkably large glacial eelpouts Lycodes frigidus. Journal of Fish Biology. DOI Link
Coad, Brian and Reist, Jim (2004). Annotated List of the Arctic Marine Fishes of Canada. Annotated List of the Arctic Marine Fishes of Canada. Link
Bjelland, Otte and Bergstad, Odd and Skjæraasen, Jon and Meland, Kenneth (2000). Trophic ecology of deep-water fishes associated with the continental slope of the Eastern Norwegian Sea. Sarsia North Atlantic Marine Science. DOI

Lycodes frigidus guarding eggs inside a sediment cave.

Depth: 1632 m.

Image by DeepInsight-2025 (ÆGIR6000/NORMAR)

Distance between lasers: 10 cm.

Depth: 1760 m.

Image by DeepInsight-2025 (ÆGIR6000/NORMAR)

Depth: 2439 m.

Image by GoNorth-2022 (ÆGIR6000/NORMAR)

Taxonomy Summary

Phylum Chordata
Class Teleostei
Order Perciformes
Family Zoarcidae
Genus Lycodes