Bighead sculpin explained

The bighead sculpin (Batrachocottus baicalensis) is a species of sculpin fish that is endemic to the Lake Baikal watershed in Siberia, Russia. It typically lives on rocky bottoms, often in places with sponges, at depths of 5to(-), but can occur as deep as 120m (390feet).[1] Its colour varies from grayish to brownish or greenish depending on the bottom type.[1] It can reach up to 22cm (09inches) in length, but most are NaNcm (-2,147,483,648inches).[1] It feeds on a wide range of smaller animals such as young fish, insect larvae, amphipods, molluscs and oligochaetes.[1] Breeding is in the spring where the female lays 618 to 1622 eggs, which are guarded by the male.[1]

The bighead sculpin is variously considered to belong either to the family Cottocomephoridae, Cottidae[2] or Abyssocottidae.[3]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Байкальская большеголовая широколобка . zooex.baikal.ru . Russian . 31 May 2017.
  2. William Eschmeyer (2015) baicalensis, Cottus . Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences.
  3. Tytti Kontula, Sergei V. Kirilchik, Risto Väinölä (2003) Endemic diversification of the monophyletic cottoid fish species flock in Lake Baikal explored with mtDNA sequencing Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 27, 1, 143–155.