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Sculpin sizes

Started by Guest_Moontanman_* , Feb 11 2009 08:22 PM

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5 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_Moontanman_*

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Posted 11 February 2009 - 08:22 PM

What is the smallest sculpin species? Do species of sculpin come in smaller or larger sizes depending on the river drainage they come from?

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#2 Guest_Newt_*

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Posted 12 February 2009 - 11:24 AM

Hopefully Dave Neely can come along and answer all this. There is a spring species from Alabama called Cottus pygmaeus which is one of the smallest sculpins, if not the smallest. I've noticed that my local sculpins are much larger in limnocrene springs than in streams, but I doubt that's a genetic difference.

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#3 Guest_daveneely_*

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Posted 12 February 2009 - 02:35 PM

Alabama's pygmy sculpin is the smallest, but is Federally and State protected. Some populations of "mottled sculpin" (Red R drainage in TN/KY, in particular) and the Coastal Plain population of Blue Ridge sculpin (MD/DE) come pretty close. Limnetic coastrange sculpins in the Northwest are also atypically small. There's some evidence that differentiation in these populations isn't just environmentally based, although nutrient availability clearly does play a role in differences between many local populations...

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#4 Guest_Moontanman_*

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Posted 12 February 2009 - 09:27 PM

Thanks Dave, it looks like the mottled sculpins from those drainages will be what I am looking for when I start up my native tank, probably be a while yet but hey, planing ahead never hurts!