Lepidonotothen squamifrons

The grey rockcod (Lepidonotothen squamifrons), also known as the grey notothen, stripe-eyes notothen or stripe-eyed rockcod, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Nototheniidae, the notothens or cod icefishes. It is native to the Southern Ocean. The grey rockcod feeds mainly on macrozooplankton and is of minor importance to commercial fisheries. It is the only species in the genus Lepidonotothen. The grey rockcod was first formally described in 1880 as Notothenia squamifrons by the German-born British ichthyologist Albert Günther with the type locality given as Kerguelen Island. The type was collected during the Challenger Expedition. In 1976 the Russian ichthyologist Arkady Vladimirovich Balushkin placed it in the genus Lepidonotothen, this genus is currently regarded as monotypic with this species as its sole member. However, other authorities regard Lepidonotothen kempi as a valid species. Some authorities place this taxon in the subfamily Nototheniinae, but the 5th edition of Fishes of the World does not include subfamilies in the Nototheniidae. The name of the genus is a compound of lepido meaning “scaled”, an allusion to the scales on the top of the head and jaws of this species, and notothen, indicating that it is a notothen. The specific name is a combination of squamis which means "scale" and frons meaning "forehead", a reference to the head being covered with small scales almost as far as the nostrils. The grey rockcod has an oblong body that is compressed towards the tail. It has dorsally positioned eyes that may bulge above the dorsal profile of the head, the eyes are separated by a narrow area that has a width less than the diameter of the eye. The pores in the sensory canal on the head are small. The mouth is small and does not extend to the middle of the eye and there are no large canine-like teeth. The head is almost completely scaled. There are two lateral lines, an upper and a middle line, both consisting of tubed scales. Its pectoral fins are smaller than the pelvic fins.