tidepool sculpin
{{Short description|Species of fish}}
{{speciesbox
| image = Oligocottusmaculosus.jpg
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| status =
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| taxon = Oligocottus maculosus
| authority = Girard, 1856{{cite WoRMS |author=Bailly, Nicolas |year=2017 |title=Oligocottus maculosus Girard, 1856 |id=281872 |accessdate=22 October 2017|db=}}
}}
The tidepool sculpin (Oligocottus maculosus) is a fish species in the sculpin family Cottidae that ranges from the Bering Sea to southern California. Individuals reach up to {{convert|8|cm|in|0|abbr=on}} in length and are common in tidepools.{{cite book|last1=Eschmeyer|first1=William N.|last2=Herald|first2=Earl S.|title=A Field Guide to Pacific Coast Fishes: North America|date=1999|publisher=Houghton Mifflin |location=Boston |isbn=0-618-00212-X|pages=177–178}}{{FishBase |genus=Oligocottus |species=maculosus |id= 4128|month=March |year=2016 }}
Description
File:Tidepool sculpin Peter Pearsall U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.jpg
The tidepool sculpin grows to a length of about {{convert|8|cm|in|0|abbr=on}} and has a large head, tapering body, and spiny fins. It has a single pre-opercular spine and tufts of cirri on the top of the head but not on the body below the dorsal fin as the fluffy sculpin (Oligocottus snyderi) does.{{cite book|author1=Eschmeyer, William N.|author2=Herald, Earl S.|title=A Field Guide to Pacific Coast Fishes: North America |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h_6RNzCo6lAC&pg=PA178 |year=1999 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |isbn=0-618-00212-X |pages=178–179}} It varies considerably in colour, is often marbled in grey, brown and white, but may be reddish or greenish and can change colour rapidly so as to camouflage itself.{{cite book|author=Kruckeberg, Arthur R.|title=The Natural History of Puget Sound Country |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yqtVmRNdHWwC&pg=PA91 |year=1995 |publisher=University of Washington Press |isbn=978-0-295-97477-4 |pages=91–92}}
Distribution and habitat
The tidepool sculpin is found in the northeastern Pacific Ocean from the Bering Sea to southern California.{{Cite web|url=http://www.centralcoastbiodiversity.org/tidepool-sculpin-bull-oligocottus-maculosus.html|title=Tidepool sculpin • Oligocottus maculosus|website=Biodiversity of the Central Coast|language=en|access-date=2018-12-23}} Its depth range is from the intertidal zone down to about {{convert|100|m|ft|abbr=on}}. It is tolerant of both brackish water and normal seawater. It is found higher up the shore and is more tolerant of warmer water than other species of sculpin such as the fluffy sculpin.{{cite book|author1=Allen, Larry G.|author2=Horn, Michael H.|title=The Ecology of Marine Fishes: California and Adjacent Waters|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qdzg0Vfql2sC&pg=PA207 |year=2006 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-93247-0 |pages=207–210}}
Ecology
The tidepool sculpin is a common small fish in pools in the intertidal zone of rocky coasts, flitting from one hiding place to another. It shows great homing ability, returning each time the tide recedes to the pool in which it has taken up residence. It has been shown to have the ability to return to its home pool from a distance of {{convert|102|m|ft|0|abbr=on}} after having been displaced for six months. It is a predator, feeding on small invertebrates such as isopods, amphipods, gastropod molluscs, polychaete worms and barnacles, as well as insects that happen to fall into the water. Small amounts of algae also form part of the diet. Sculpins are preyed upon by diving birds and by predatory fishes when the tide is high.{{cite book |author1=Denny, Mark W.|author2=Gaines, Steven Dean|author3=Pfister, Catherine A. |title=Encyclopedia of Tidepools and Rocky Shores |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uufQnE7MzMkC&pg=PA485 |year=2007 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-25118-2 |pages=485}} When the seas are rough it moves higher up the shore. It can leave the water and breathe air, exchanging both oxygen and carbon dioxide, while hiding in a damp spot, and it attempts to evade predators by flapping about or wriggling in an effort to reach a more favourable location.
The fish become mature when about {{convert|35|mm|in|1|abbr=on}} in length. The male has modified anal fin rays, and either they are used as claspers with fertilisation being internal, or the male clasps the female and fertilises the eggs as they are being laid. Small clusters of eggs are laid in late winter, often in crevices or empty barnacle shells. The larvae are planktonic in the open sea; in embayments, they sometimes school near the seabed. After thirty to sixty days the larvae move back to rock pools and become juvenile fish. Their growth rate is affected if they are too crowded in a pool.
References
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Category:Fish of the Bering Sea