Species: Cottus beldingii
Paiute Sculpin
Species
Encyclopedia of Puget Sound
Classification
Kingdom
Animalia
Phylum
Craniata
Class
Actinopterygii
Order
Scorpaeniformes
Family
Cottidae
Genus
Cottus
NatureServe
Classification
Informal Taxonomy
Animals, Vertebrates - Fishes - Bony Fishes - Other Bony Fishes
Formal Taxonomy
Animalia - Craniata - Actinopterygii - Scorpaeniformes - Cottidae - Cottus - Previously considered a subspecies of C. BAIRDI. Bailey and Bond (1963, Occas. Pap. Mus. Zool. Univ. Michigan 634:1-27) synonymized C. ANNAE and C. TUBULATUS with C. BELDINGI and placed it in the C. BAIRDI species group (Lee et al. 1980). Formerly included in the order Perciformes; the 1991 AFS checklist (Robins et al. 1991) followed Nelson (1984) in recognizing the order Scorpaeniformes as distinct from the Perciformes.
Ecology and Life History
Habitat Type Description
Freshwater
Migration
false - false - false
Non-migrant
false
Locally Migrant
false
Food Comments
Primarily a bottom feeder. Consumes a wide variety of invertebrates including aquatic insect larvae, snails, water mites, and planktonic crustaceans. Also consumes algae and detritus. Its diet changes seasonally.
Reproduction Comments
Most spawning occurs in May and June in Lake Tahoe. Typically the nest of 100-200 eggs is guarded by the male (Moyle 1976). Females apparently spawn once annually. Sexually mature usually at 2 years (Sigler and Sigler 1987), may live up to 5 years.
Ecology Comments
In streams and lakes competition for food between sculpins and trout is minimal to insignificant (Moyle 1976). No evidence of territoriality or schooling behavior.
Length
6
Conservation Status
NatureServe Global Status Rank
G5
Global Status Last Reviewed
1996-09-06
Global Status Last Changed
1996-09-06
Distribution
Conservation Status Map
<img src="http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/GetMapGif?US.CA=SNR&US.CO=SU&US.ID=S5&US.NV=S4&US.OR=S4&US.UT=S2&US.WA=S3&US.WY=S5" alt="Conservation Status Map" style="width: 475px; height: auto;" />
Global Range
G - 200,000-2,500,000 square km (about 80,000-1,000,000 square miles) - G - Range includes the Columbia River drainage from Idaho, western Wyoming, and northeastern Nevada to western Washington and Oregon; endorheic basins, including Lake Tahoe (California and Nevada; abundant), Humboldt River (Nevada), and Bear River (Utah) (Page and Burr 2011). This species may occur in the upper Colorado River drainage, Colorado (Woodling 1985).
Global Range Code
G
Global Range Description
200,000-2,500,000 square km (about 80,000-1,000,000 square miles)