Liparidae ( snail fish) today on Taylor Beach

My dog led me to this very unusual fish washed up on the shore today, Nov. 12 -2014.  There was a brisk cold wind blowing from the North east, with a two-foot chop.

I am posting it here to try to get it identified.
Possibilities here on Fishbase

blacksuckerfishventralm

Note sucker on ventral side

blackfishfrontallm

very small eyes indicating it may be an abyssal species.

blackfishlateralm2014-11-12

lateral view of unidentified fish species G. Fletcher photos

blackfishspanm

Length 24 cm.

blackfishlateral2m

Family Liparidae

 

blacksuckerfishventralm

Liparidae ventral view

A good suggestion has been made by Rick Harbo that it is a snail fish (Liparidae)
From Fishbase:

Deep fin  Classification :Osteichthyes | Actinopterygii | Actinopteri | Neopterygii | Teleostei | Osteoglossocephalai | Clupeocephala | Euteleosteomorpha | Neoteleostei | Eurypterygia | Ctenosquamata | Acanthomorphata | Euacanthomorphacea | Percomorphaceae | Percomorpharia | Perciformes | Cottoidei | Liparidae

Also From Fishbase:
“Liparidae – (Snailfishes)
Distribution: Arctic to Antarctic, Atlantic, and Pacific. Body elongate, scaleless (small prickles in some) and skin jellylike; dorsal fin (28-82 soft rays) and anal fin (24-76 soft rays) long, confluent, or nearly so with caudal fin; pelvic fin (disc) absent in species of Paraliparis and in the monotypic Nectoliparis; nostrils single or paired (usually in Liparis); vertebrae 38-86. Maximum length about 50 cm. Occur from tidepools to depths of over 7,000 m.”

Below: I took this image in late November of a red-breasted merganser female eating what may be one of these fish. I am not sure if she actually got it down whole!

mergandfish

The Hooded nudibranch: Melibe leonina

Laura Verhegge has posted this note about Melibe leonina, seen today in Pedder Bay  on the Pearson College Marine Science website

A multitude of Melibe drift to the Pearson College dock

melibe

Melibe the hooded nudibranch photo by Laura Verhegge

melibe3

Melibe leonina photos on Race Rocks Taxonomy by Ryan Murphy

 

(see other images and a video of the movement on her website)

 

 

 

 

Ryan Murphy got these images for the  Race Rocks Taxonomy.

 

 

 

 

 

Domain: Eukarya
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Mollusca
Class: Gastropoda
Subclass: Opisthobranchia
Order: Nudibranchia
Superfamily: Tritoniodea
Family: Tethydidae
Genus: Melibe
Species: leonina Gould, 1852
Common Name: Hooded Nudibranch