help

what spieces of sculpin is this

Could you please state where the fish was caught and what watershed.

it was caught in the quatse river in port hardy why?

it was caught in the quatse river in port hardy why?

I'll first repeat my mantra: update your profile with your location information. It helps people understand your comments/questions, and give proper answers to questions, to know where you are. I understand privacy concerns, you don't need to give your street address. It would be sufficient to say Port Hardy, BC, or Vancouver Island. I am assuming you live there, and were not just vacationing there.

Anyway, knowing the location where a fish was caught is important in identifying a fish. Some species are similar, and the location is needed to differentiate. Other times, it just narrows it down, so we don't have to look at all sculpins, just those known to be native to British Columbia.

If you look here:
http://www.natureser...let/NatureServe
you will find that there are quite a few sculpins that are native to BC. I don't know which one it is. Hopefully somebody else here can help you.

It's a prickly sculpin, Cottus asper. Easy ID- no other sculpins in North America have as many anal fin rays. You should also see coastrange sculpins up there; they'll have longer pelvic fins and usually a pale orangish area between the last saddle under the dorsal fin and the dark band around the caudal fin. Get a little closer to tidewater and you'll pick up staghorns, which look totally different...

Nice fish...

cheers,
Dave