Descriptions and records of liparid fishes (Scorpaeniformes, Liparidae) from the Mariana Islands

Three new bathyal species of Paraliparis (Liparidae) are described from Tinian and Anatahan Islands, and from Esmeralda Bank, in the Mariana Islands. All were collected in shrimp traps set at 903–1207 m. Although liparids have been found, described, and studied at hadal depths in the Mariana Trench, Paraliparis echongpachot sp. nov., Paraliparis kadadakaleguak sp. nov., and Paraliparis marianae sp. nov. are the first species of the family described from bathyal depths of the Mariana Islands. The existence of three species from collections at three locations in the same archipelago, and their distinctiveness from liparids known from other areas in the western Pacific to the north and south of the Mariana Archipelago, is in accordance with the high degree of endemism in species of Paraliparis. Biogeographic and liparid life-history factors that influence bathyal fish distributions in the Mariana Archipelago and enhance endemism in Paraliparis are discussed.