Pholis laeta

Formerly Centronotus laeta. Yatsu (1981) included this species in a new nominal genus Allopholis, based on differences in the number of infraorbital bones and presence or absence of a median interorbital head pore. Peden and Hughes (1984) observed overlap in the number of infraorbital bones between Pholis and the proposed Allopholis species and believed these characters were not distinct enough to support grouping in a new genus. Most authors (Robins et al. 1991, Mecklenburg et al. 2002, Mecklenburg 2003) use Pholis laeta. The crescent gunnel is closely related and very similar in appearance to the saddleback gunnel (Pholis ornata). Alaskan specimens collected in the 1990s and previously identified as P. ornata are now believed to be P. laeta (Mecklenburg et al. 2002).

Apparently widespread throughout the North Pacific Ocean; trend unknown. Pollution by oiling and other contaminants and habitat destruction due to coastal urbanization are of concern.

North Pacific: Aleutian Islands and east along northern Alaska Peninsula to Port Heiden, and Gulf of Alaska shores to northern California at Crescent City; Commander Islands and southeastern Kamchatka (Mecklenburg et al. 2002).

Intertidal habitats may be threatened by pollution from timber harvest, mining, and agricultural runoff, oil and gas development, oil spills, seafood processing, beachfront development, and sewage discharge (Tindall 2004). Natural perturbations such as earthquakes and scouring incurred by major storms are also potential threats. Although little understood, the effects of climate change will likely result in changes in ocean temperatures, and intertidal community structure and diversity may be affected. In California, researchers have already attributed a reduction in cold-water intertidal species to warming water temperatures (Tindall 2004).