Small Bottom Dweller Id (not Catfish)

Hey all, first post here. Been trying to ID these guys for a few years now.

They live in cold, fast flowing rivers here in Western Washington. Average size is about 4-5". They like to hide out under rocks and stay on the bottom. I always end up catching a few with my crawdad trap.

Their head is fairly laterally compressed, spines are soft. Coloration is usally a mud brown. Oppurtunitic feeders, as I've found several that have died choking on fish just slightly smaller than themselves, usually the same species.

Sorry the photos aren't very great, especially for IDing.

I would say a sculpin of sorts. Hard to tell what species from those pics

It's a species of sculpin. Could be one of several species, I'm not familier with the sculpins of Washington.

Well, sculpin gets me on the right track. As a kid we called them bullheads.

Here's a list of the ones found in Washington. I've crossed out the species it isn't based on river drainages listed from www.fishbase.org. Though all the remaining species look the same to me.

And I know my photos aren't good enough for a positive ID.

Order Scorpaeniformes
Cottidae: Sculpins

Cottus aleuticus, Coastrange Sculpin. West of Cascades, streams.

Cottus asper, Prickly Sculpin. Widespread, streams.

Cottus bairdi, Mottled Sculpin. Upper Columbia R. drainage, streams.

Cottus beldingi, Paiute Sculpin. Local east of Cascades, streams.

Cottus cognatus, Slimy Sculpin. Local east of Cascades, streams.

Cottus confusus, Shorthead Sculpin. Widespread N & W, streams.

Cottus gulosus, Riffle Sculpin. West of Cascades, streams.

Cottus perplexus, Reticulate Sculpin. West of Cascades, streams.

Cottus marginatus, Margined Sculpin. Blue Mountains, streams.

Cottus rhotheus, Torrent Sculpin. Widespread, streams.

Leptocottus armatus, Pacific Staghorn Sculpin. Marine, also mouths of coastal rivers.

I think you need Dave Neely for a definitive ID. I'm not sure if he's back from China yet?

I second that Dave is needed, he is the sculpin expert.

Hey MM,

Sorry for the slow reply. I've been out of the country for a couple of months...

Without knowing exactly where you caught this, and based on the broad saddles and narrow caudal peduncle, I'd guess that you have a torrent sculpin, Cottus rhotheus. Sculpins are very difficult to identify though, especially without actually having the fish in hand. I'd recommend getting a copy of Whitney and Wydoski's Inland Fishes of Washington; it's relatively inexpensive and a good source of info on all the fishes out there. There's a decent key to facilitate identification in it.

cheers,
Dave

Thanks very much for the information. I'll definitely check out the book.

I caught (catch) them in the Green (Duwamish) river up in the Green River Gorge by Flaming Geyser State Park, so just a bit west of the Green River Watershed.

I fully understand how hard it is to identify fish from bad photos.

Thanks very much for the information. I'll definitely check out the book.

I caught (catch) them in the Green (Duwamish) river up in the Green River Gorge by Flaming Geyser State Park, so just a bit west of the Green River Watershed.

I fully understand how hard it is to identify fish from bad photos.

hey modestman I know the flaming geyser park i also live in wa. st. and go fishing there sometime's just curious do you get anything else in your minnow trap's? i would also suggest the book mentioned above you can borrow it from the library lot's of pic's anyway maybe we can go collecting some time?