Lumpenus lampretaeformis (Linnaeus 1758), Snake blenny (Lumpenidae) 

Author: Ronald Fricke, Germany

1. Description of the habitat/autecology of the species

Snake blenny is benthic on clean mud bottoms at 30-200 m depth. It buries and lives in Y-shaped tubes in the mud. The species feeds on small crustaceans, molluscs, brittle stars and worms. Adults mature at about 20 cm total length. Spawning season is from December to January; about 1000 eggs are laid on the sea floor. Larvae are pelagic. Maximum total length of adults 50 cm (Fricke, 1987: 78; Froese & Pauly, 2005).

2. Distribution (past and present)

Distributed from Kattegat to Gulf of Finland. Outside the HELCOM area, the species occurs across the North Atlantic, in the east from the southern North Sea to Novaja Zemlja. The Baltic Sea populations are isolated, and considered as a relict from the last Ice Age.

3. Importance (sub-regional, Baltic-wide, global)

This species is of local importance in the HELCOM area. The species is, however, considered as rare in the HELCOM area; it is massively affected by human activities, and considered as a keystone species for its habitats due to its burying behaviour.

4. Status of threat/decline

In the HELCOM area, snake blenny is classified as critically endangered (CR) according to IUCN criteria, and as a HELCOM high priority species (HELCOM, 2007). It is considered as data deficient in Finland and Sweden.

5. Threat/decline factors

Threatened by eutrophication and habitat loss, as the species inhabits relatively clean and well oxygenated deepwater habitats. The species is now considered rare in HELCOM area from the Belt seas eastward, highly sensitive to human activities, and a keystone species.

6. Options for improvement

Necessary conservation measures for this species would mainly include a reduction of eutrophication of the Baltic Sea proper, as the species needs well-oxygenated deep water habitats.

7. References

Fricke R. 1987. Deutsche Meeresfische. Bestimmungsbuch.  Hamburg (DJN), 219 pp.

Froese R. & Pauly D. (eds) 2005. FishBase. Available in: www.fishbase.org, version (11/2005).

HELCOM 2007. HELCOM Red list of threatened and declining species of lampreys and fish of the Baltic Sea. Baltic Sea Environmental Proceedings, No. 109, 40 pp.  Available in: http://www.helcom.fi/stc/files/Publications/Proceedings/bsep109.pdf