The Long-Horned Sculpin

The sculpins, or cottids, are a widespread family. The fish live near the sea floor. Perhaps they are most easily recognized by their eyes. These are large, and placed high on the head. To some, the cottids may appear strange-looking, or even ugly. Nonetheless, the fish are important ecologically. The long-horned variety, Myoxocephalus octodecimspinosus, is an unremarkable sculpin.

Myoxocephalus octodecimspinosus belongs to the phylum Chordata, the subphylum Vertebrata, and the superclass Gnathostomata. A ray-finned fish, M. octodecimspinosus is also a member of the class Actinopterygii. The species further belongs in the division Teleostei, the subdivision Euteleostei, the superorder Acanthopterygii, and the order Scorpaeniformes (Nelson 19-322).

Members of the superorder Acanthopterygii have protrusible jaws. In addition, the order Scorpaeniformes includes the "mail-cheeked" fishes (Nelson 308). These fish have a characteristic posterior extension of their third infraorbital bone, the suborbital stay. The structure extends longitudinally across the cheek and attaches to the preoperculum (Gosline 167-168). Within this group of fish, M. octodecimspinosus is grouped with the suborder Cottoidei, the superfamily Cottoidea, and, finally, the family Cottidae (Nelson 19-322).

There are about 70 cottid genera and roughly 300 species. These are widely distributed in both salt and fresh waters from north tem

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35-438). Their food is found either within the sediments or immediately above them (Wurtsbaugh & Neverman 846). Sculpins lie on or near the bottom, and ambush approaching prey. They employ the seismosensory receptors of their lateral line system to locate moving organisms. Their large mouth will admit rather sizable prey. The protrusible jaw makes the sculpin an efficient predator. The jaw moves forward as the mandible is lowered. Sculpins slowly ease up to their prey. Small fish or crustaceans may consider themselves out of range. The sculpin's jaw system then shoots forward, and engulfs the food. Prey are ultimately ingested through inertial suction (Bone et al. 166). Sculpin courtship behavior may involve vocalization (Bone et al. 189-191). Fish (1954) describes a possible sound-producing mechanism in M. octodecimspinosus. It essentially involves pectoral-pelvic girdle vibration. Bilateral contractions of the deep cranioclavicular muscles result in periodic movements of the pectoral girdle. In the absence of antagonistic muscles, return movement derives from pectoral-girdle articulation elasticity. The pectoral girdle motions are thought to produce sound vibrations in the water surrounding the fish (Barber & Mow
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