Prickly sculpin facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Prickly sculpin |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Conservation status | |
| Scientific classification |
The prickly sculpin (Cottus asper) is a type of fish with ray-finned fins. It belongs to the family called Cottidae, which are known as typical sculpins. This fish naturally lives in the rivers and streams along the Pacific Slope of North America. You can find it from Seward, Alaska, all the way south to the Ventura River in Southern California.
It also lives east of the Continental Divide in the Peace River in British Columbia. Sometimes, people have moved prickly sculpins to new places. For example, they have been introduced to several reservoirs in Southern California.
Contents
What Does the Prickly Sculpin Look Like?
This fish can grow to about 30 centimeters (about 12 inches) long. However, most prickly sculpins are smaller, often around 7 centimeters (about 3 inches). They usually live for about 7 years and are ready to have babies when they are 2 to 4 years old.
Prickly sculpins are often brown, gray, or olive green on their backs. Their bellies are white or yellowish. They have dark spots or stripes on their backs and dark stripes on most of their fins. When male sculpins are ready to breed, they become darker in color. Both male and female sculpins get an orange color on the edge of their first dorsal fin during breeding season.
The fish has large, fan-shaped pectoral fins. Its body feels prickly, which is how it got its name! Fish that live inland tend to be more prickly than those living near the coast.
Life and Habits of the Prickly Sculpin
Where Does It Live?
There are two main kinds of prickly sculpins. One kind lives in lakes, which is called the inland form. The other kind lives in rivers near the coast. These coastal sculpins swim down into brackish estuaries to have their babies. Brackish water is a mix of fresh and salty water.
This fish can live in both very salty and not-so-salty water. It usually stays near the bottom of the water. Prickly sculpins are nocturnal, meaning they are active and feed mostly at night.
What Does It Eat?
The prickly sculpin's diet includes many different things. They eat small water creatures without backbones, like insects and their larvae. They also eat salmon eggs and tiny fish larvae, especially those of the Sacramento sucker. Small water animals called zooplankton, like Daphnia, are also a favorite food.
Bigger sculpins eat larger meals. These can include small fish, frogs, and even snails. Sometimes, adult sculpins will even eat younger sculpins, which is called cannibalism.
Who Are Its Neighbors?
In its home, the prickly sculpin often lives near its relative, the coastrange sculpin (Cottus aleuticus). These two fish look and act quite similar. You might also find prickly sculpins living with other fish like the three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus), steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), and different types of salmon such as Chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha) and coho salmon (O. kisutch).
How Does It Reproduce?
Prickly sculpins usually have their babies, or spawn, between February and June. The male sculpin builds a nest under things like logs or even trash. The female then lays many eggs in this nest. She can lay anywhere from a few hundred to as many as 11,000 eggs!
After the eggs are laid, the male sculpin guards the nest to keep the eggs safe. A male might even breed with more than one female during the same season.
Where Can You Find Prickly Sculpins?
This fish is very common in most places where it lives. It becomes even more common in the summer when new young fish join the population. While it naturally lives in many waterways in California, it has been moved to some lakes and rivers in Southern California.
For example, you can find them in the Santa Clara River, the Santa Ana River, Irvine Lake, and Big Bear Lake. They also live in reservoirs like Pyramid Lake. It's thought that they were brought to many of these places from farther north through the California Aqueduct.
What Are Prickly Sculpins Used For?
Some people say that prickly sculpins are edible, especially the larger ones. This means you can eat them. They are also considered good to use as bait when fishing for other fish.
