Species: Cottus gulosus
Riffle 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 - Nomenclatural history confused. Many of the early records for this species may be in fact C. ASPER, C. KLAMATHENSIS, C. PITENSIS, or C. PERPLEXUS (Moyle 1976). COTTUS SHASTA is a synonym. 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
Feeds opportunistically on a wide variety of benthic invertebrates (e.g., aquatic insects, isopods, amphipods, snails). Rarely eats small fish and fish eggs.
Reproduction Comments
Spawning occurs in late February, March and April. Females carry between 104-449 eggs, depending on their size. Male guards nest. Eggs hatch in 11 days at 15 C (Moyle 1976). Reaches maturity at end of second year. Seldom lives more than 4 years.
Length
7
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=S3&US.OR=S4&US.WA=S5" alt="Conservation Status Map" style="width: 475px; height: auto;" />
Global Range
FG - 20,000-2,500,000 square km (about 8000-1,000,000 square miles) - FG - Range includes Pacific Slope drainages from Puget Sound, Washington, to the Coquille River, Oregon; Sacramento-San Joaquin drainage, California; and streams in San Francisco Bay region; absent from Trinity, Klamath, and Rogue river drainages (Page and Burr 2011).
Global Range Code
FG
Global Range Description
20,000-2,500,000 square km (about 8000-1,000,000 square miles)