Myoxocephalus polyacanthocephalus
Great Sculpin
NS
GNR
Collection Details
Specimens
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Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Scorpaeniformes (Lionfish, Stonefish and others)
Cottidae (Sculpins)
Myoxocephalus
Myoxocephalus polyacanthocephalus (Great 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: fusiform / normal. Caudal fin slightly rounded (Ref. 6885). Color deep olive on dorsal surface with 4 dark saddles across back; ventral surface pale; brown bars running downward on relaxed unpaired and paired pectoral fins (Ref. 6885).
Distribution
North Pacific: Hokkaido, Japan and Kamchatka, Russia through the Aleutian Islands to the Bering Sea coast of Alaska and Puget Sound, Washington, USA.
Habitat Associations
Marine. demersal. depth range 0-775 m.
Biology
Occurs in the intertidal area and to 244 m depth, on sand and mud bottoms (Ref. 2850). Feeds on small fishes (Ref. 4925). Often caught near shore (Ref. 2850).
Max length: 80.0 cm TL; max weight: 9000 g; max age: 17 years.
IUCN Red List Status: N.E. (N.E.). Resilience: Low (tm=6-8; tmax=9-13; K=0.08-0.21; Fec=2,00-10,000).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: commercial; gamefish.
References
Eschmeyer, W.N., E.S. Herald and H. Hammann (1983) A field guide to Pacific coast fishes of North America. Boston (MA, USA): Houghton Mifflin Company. xii+336 p.
Allen, M.J. and G.B. Smith (1988) Atlas and zoogeography of common fishes in the Bering Sea and northeastern Pacific. NOAA Tech. Rep. NMFS 66, 151 p.
Hart, J.L. (1973) Pacific fishes of Canada. Bull. Fish. Res. Board Can. 180:740 p.
Tokranov, A.M. (1992) Features of feeding of benthic predatory fishes of the West Kamchatka Shelf. J. Ichthyol. 32(7):45-55.
Lamb, A. and P. Edgell (1986) Coastal fishes of the Pacific northwest. Madeira Park, (BC, Canada): Harbour Publishing Co. Ltd., 224 p.
Fadeev, N.S. (2005) Guide to biology and fisheries of fishes of the North Pacific Ocean. Vladivostok, TINRO-Center. 366 p.
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