Cottus carolinae
Banded Sculpin
NS
G5
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Scorpaeniformes (Lionfish, Stonefish and others)
Cottidae (Sculpins)
Cottus
Cottus carolinae (Banded Sculpin)
Description
This species account was compiled from
FishBase (Froese, R. and D. Pauly. Editors. 2025. FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication. www.fishbase.org, version 04/2025.)
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Characters
Body shape: elongated.
Distribution
North America: upland streams in Mississippi River basin from New River drainage in West Virginia and Virginia, across central Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois to Ozark Mountain drainages in Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas and Oklahoma in the USA; south to Mobile drainage in Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama, USA.
Habitat Associations
Freshwater. demersal.
Biology
Inhabit gravel and rubble riffles of headwaters, creeks and small rivers. Also occur in springs and their effluents (Ref 5723, 10294). Young feed on aquatic insect immatures of many kinds, including caddisflies, mayflies, and midge larvae; adults on stonefly nymphs and maturing stages of other insects (Ref. 10294).
Max length: 18.0 cm TL; common length: 9.5 cm TL.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2011-11-09. Resilience: Medium (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: of no interest.
References
Page, L.M. and B.M. Burr (1991) A field guide to freshwater fishes of North America north of Mexico. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston. 432 p.
Comments On Cottus carolinae