Cottunculus microps

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Cottunculus microps
Cottunculus microps1.jpg
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Scorpaeniformes
Family: Psychrolutidae
Genus: Cottunculus
Species:
C. microps
Binomial name
Cottunculus microps
Collett, 1875 [1]

Cottunculus microps, the polar sculpin, is a species of fathead sculpin, a deepwater fish found in the North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. [2] It was first described in 1875 by the Norwegian zoologist Robert Collett, curator of the Natural History Museum at the University of Oslo.

Contents

Description

Like other members of its family, the polar sculpin has a large head, a short tapering body and a small tail. The skin is loosely attached and there is a gelatinous layer beneath it. [3] This fish has a maximum length of about 30 cm (12 in) but a more usual length is between 9 and 14 cm (3.5 and 5.5 in). The head is rounded when viewed from above; its width is usually greater than its length. There are four rounded bony knobs behind and between the eyes and the skin is very rough. The colour of this fish is greyish-brown and there are three or four broad, dark-coloured vertical bands on the sides of the body. The dorsal fin has about 7 spines and 14 soft rays and the anal fin 10 to 11 soft rays. The pectoral fins are pale-coloured with a few dark spots and have 17 to 19 soft rays. [4] [5]

Distribution and habitat

The polar sculpin is native to the North Atlantic Ocean and the Arctic Ocean. In the western Atlantic it is found from New Jersey in the United States northward to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence in Canada and Greenland. In the eastern Atlantic it is found in the English Channel, the North Sea, Norway, the Barents Sea, Svalbard, the Faroe Islands and Iceland. It is a demersal, deep sea fish found near the sea bed at depths ranging between 165 and 1,340 m (540 and 4,400 ft), but mostly no deeper than 215 m (700 ft). [5]

Ecology

The polar sculpin is a demersal fish and feeds on various invertebrates that live on the seabed including polychaete worms, amphipods, mysid shrimps, sea spiders and other crustaceans. [1] [5] The life history of this fish is little known; females have been caught containing 124 to 220 nearly ripe eggs, each measuring up to 4.5 mm (0.2 in) in diameter. It is likely that like some of its close relatives, the eggs of the polar sculpin develop on the seabed and the larvae may also be demersal. [3]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Psychrolutidae</span> Family of fishes

The fish family Psychrolutidae contains over 35 recognized species in 8 genera. This family consists of bottom-dwelling marine sculpins shaped like tadpoles, with large heads and bodies that taper back into small, flat tails. The skin is loosely attached and movable, and the layer underneath it is gelatinous. The eyes are placed high on the head, focused forward closer to the tip of the snout. Members of the family generally have large, leaf-like pectoral fins and lack scales, although some species are covered with soft spines. This is important to the species as the depths in which they live are highly pressurized and they are ambush/opportunistic/foraging predators that do not expend energy unless they are forced to. The blobfish has a short, broad tongue and conical teeth that are slightly recurved and are arranged in bands in irregular rows along the premaxillaries; canines are completely absent. Teeth are nonexistent on the palatines and vomer; which make up the hard palate. The blobfish also has a set of specialized pharyngeal teeth that are well developed and paired evenly along the upper and lower portions of the pharyngeal arch. These specialized teeth may aid in the breakdown of food due to the very strategic dependency on whatever food falls from above.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hemitripterinae</span> Family of fishes

The Hemitripterinae is a subfamily of the scorpaeniform family Agonidae, known as sea ravens or sailfin sculpins. They are bottom-dwelling fish that feed on small invertebrates, found in the northwest Atlantic and north Pacific Oceans. They are covered in small spines.

<i>Myoxocephalus</i> Genus of fishes

Myoxocephalus is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Cottidae, the typical sculpins. They are found in the norther Pacific, Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, with a few species in lakes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blob sculpin</span> Species of fish

The blob sculpin is a species of deep-sea fish of the family Psychrolutidae. It feeds mainly on crustaceans, molluscs, and sea pens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norway bullhead</span> Species of fish

The Norway bullhead is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Cottidae, the typical sculpins. This species is found in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean.

<i>Liparis fabricii</i> Species of fish

Liparis fabricii, commonly known as the gelatinous seasnail or gelatinous snailfish, is a benthopelagic species of snailfish from the Arctic Ocean. It has a tadpole-like body with a maximum length of about 20 cm (7.9 in). It is brown to black in coloration with a distinctive dark peritoneum. It preys on small crustaceans and marine worms. It is not commercially important, though it is a valuable food source for predatory fish and seabirds in the Arctic region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Common seasnail</span> Species of fish

The common seasnail is a small marine fish of the seasnail family (Liparidae) in the order Scorpaeniformes, the scorpionfishes and flatheads. It is found in the northeastern Atlantic Ocean where it lives on the seabed.

<i>Triglops</i> Genus of fishes

Triglops is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Cottidae, the typical sculpins. These fishes are found in the North Pacific, Arctic and North Atlantic Oceans.

<i>Cottunculus</i> Genus of fish

Cottunculus is a genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Psychrolutidae. These fishes are found in the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic oceans.

<i>Blepsias cirrhosus</i> Species of fish

Blepsias cirrhosus, the silverspotted sculpin, is a species of sculpin belonging to the subfamily Hemitripterinae of the family Agonidae. This species is found the northern Pacific Ocean from the Sea of Japan and Alaska to San Miguel Island off southern California.

<i>Blepsias bilobus</i> Species of fish

Blepsias bilobus, the crested sculpin, is a species of sculpin belonging to the subfamily Hemitripterinae of the family Agonidae. This species is found in the North Pacific Ocean.

<i>Myoxocephalus jaok</i> Species of fish

Myoxocephalus jaok, the plain sculpin, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Cottidae, the typical sculpins. This species is found in the northern Pacific Ocean and adjacent Arctic Ocean.

<i>Myoxocephalus scorpioides</i> Species of fish

Myoxocephalus scorpioides, the Arctic sculpin or northern sculpin, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Cottidae, the typical sculpins. This fish is found in the Arctic Ocean.

<i>Monacanthus ciliatus</i> Species of fish

Monacanthus ciliatus, commonly known as the fringed filefish, the cuckold or the leather-fish, is a species of bony fish commonly found in shallow water in the western Atlantic Ocean, the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.

Microchirus azevia, commonly known as the bastard sole, is a species of flatfish in the family Soleidae. It is found on the continental slope of the eastern Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea at depths down to about 250 m (800 ft).

<i>Pontobdella muricata</i> Species of annelid (marine leech)

Pontobdella muricata is a species of marine leech in the family Piscicolidae. It is a parasite of fishes and is native to the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, the Baltic Sea, the North Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea.

<i>Artediellus atlanticus</i> Species of fish

Artediellus atlanticus, the Atlantic hookear sculpin or hookhorn sculpin, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Cottidae. This species is found along the coasts of Northern Atlantic Ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hamecon</span>

The hamecon is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Cottidae. This species is found along the coasts of northeastern Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arctic staghorn sculpin</span>

The Arctic staghorn sculpin is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Cottidae, the typical sculpins. This sculpin is found in the Arctic Ocean and the northern Atlantic Ocean.

Cottunculus sadko is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Psychrolutidae, the fatheads. This species is found from Greenland to the Norwegian and Kara Seas in the northeast Atlantic Ocean. However, some authorities regard this taxon as a synonym of the Polar sculpin.

References

  1. 1 2 Bailly, Nicolas (2008). "Cottunculus microps Collett, 1875". WoRMS. World Register of Marine Species . Retrieved 19 February 2017.
  2. Byrkjedal, I.; Hadler-Jacobsen, S.; Rees, D.; Orlov, A. (2014). "Molecular and morphological variation in saddled fathead sculpins (Psychrolutidae: Cottunculus) of the north-east Atlantic Ocean, with a synonymy of three species". Journal of Fish Biology. 85 (3): 821–837. doi:10.1111/jfb.12458. PMID   25041434.
  3. 1 2 Richards, William J. (2005). Early Stages of Atlantic Fishes: An Identification Guide for the Western Central North Atlantic. CRC Press. p. 1191. ISBN   978-0-203-50021-7.
  4. "Polar sculpin (Cottunculus microps)". Fishes of the NE Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Marine Species Identification Portal. Retrieved 19 February 2017.
  5. 1 2 3 Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.) (2023). "Cottunculus microps" in FishBase . February 2023 version.