FIG. 407.—Liparid, _Crystallias matsushimæ_, (Jordan and Snyder). Family _Liparididæ_. Matsushima Bay, Japan. ] =The Sea-snails: Liparididæ.=—The sea-snails, _Liparididæ_ are closely related to the lumpfishes, but the body is more elongate, tadpole shaped, covered with very lax skin, like the "wrinkled skin on scalded milk." In structure the liparids are still more degenerate than the lumpfishes. Even the characteristic ventral disk is lost in some species (_Paraliparis_; _Amitra_) and in numerous others the tail is drawn out into a point (leptocercal), a character almost always a result of degradation. The dorsal spines are wanting or imbedded in the loose skin, and all trace of spines on the head is lost, but the characteristic suborbital stay is well developed. The numerous species are all small, three to twelve inches in length. They live in Arctic waters, often descending to great depths, in which case the body is very soft. One genus, _Enantioliparis_, is found in the Antarctic. In the principal genus, _Liparis_, the ventral disk is well developed, and the spinous dorsal obsolete. _Liparis liparis_ is found on both shores of the North Atlantic, and is subject to large variations in color. _Liparis agassizi_ is abundant in Japan and northward, and _Liparis pulchellus_ in California. In the most primitive genus, _Neoliparis_, a notch in the fin indicates the separation of the spinous dorsal. _Neoliparis montagui_ is common in Europe, replaced in New England by _Neoliparis atlanticus_. _Careproctus_, with numerous elongate species, inhabits depths of the North Pacific. In _Paraliparis_ (or _Hilgendorfia_) _ulochir_, the ventral disk is gone and the lowest stage of degradation of the Loricate or _Scorpæna-Cottus_ type of fishes is reached. No fossil lump-suckers or liparids are recorded, although remains of _Cyclopterus lumpus_ are found in nodules of glacial clay in Canada. [Illustration: FIG. 408.—Snailfish, _Neoliparis mucosus_ (Ayres). San Francisco. ] =The Baikal Cods: Comephoridæ.=—The family of _Comephoridæ_ includes _Comephorus baikalensis_, a large fresh-water fish of Lake Baikal in Siberia, having no near affinities with any other existing fish, but now known to be a mail-cheek fish related to the _Cottidæ_. The body is elongate, naked, with soft flesh and feeble skeleton. The mouth is large, with small teeth, and the skull has a cavernous structure. There are no ventral fins. The spinous dorsal is short and low, the second dorsal and anal many-rayed, and the pectoral fins are excessively long, almost wing-like; the vertebræ number 8 + 35 = 43, and unlike most fresh-water fishes, the species has no air-bladder. Little is known of the habits of this singular fish. Another genus is recently described under the name of _Cottocomephorus_.