ALASKA BLACKFISH

(species Dallia pectoralis), Arctic freshwater fish, assigned by some authorities to the family Umbridae but by others to the separate family Dalliidae. The fish is about 20 cm (8 inches) long, with a dark, streamlined body, protruding lower jaw, and two large opposed fins near the tail. Locally important as a food fish, it lives in shallow streams and ponds of North America and Siberia. Although it is said to withstand being frozen solid, this has never been substantiated.