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The European bullhead (''Cottus gobio'') is a freshwater
The bullhead has a large broad head and tapering body, large fins and a rounded tail. The eyes are located near the top of the head. To the distinction from the other freshwater sculpin species found in Northern Europe, it can be told from the alpine bullhead ''Cottus poecilopus'' by the fact that the rays of its pelvic fins are of similar lengths while the first and last rays are longer in the alpine bullhead. It can be distinguished from the
The European bullhead, as treated above, is widespread over most of the subcontinent and in England, but absent from the southern peninsulae and from Northern Scandinavia. It is not a single uniform
fish
Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of ...
that is widely distributed in Europe, mainly in rivers. It is a member of the family Cottidae
The Cottidae are a family of fish in the superfamily Cottoidea, the sculpins. It is the largest sculpin family, with about 275 species in 70 genera.Kane, E. A. and T. E. Higham. (2012)Life in the flow lane: differences in pectoral fin morphology ...
, a type of sculpin. It is also known as the miller's thumb, freshwater sculpin, common bullhead, and cob.
The European bullhead is a small demersal fish that lives both in cold, clear, fast-flowing small streams and in middle-sized rivers. It also occurs on gravelly shores of cold lakes. Further, it thrives in diluted brackish water of the Northern Baltic Sea
The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain.
The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and ...
.
Description
The bullhead has a large broad head and tapering body, large fins and a rounded tail. The eyes are located near the top of the head. To the distinction from the other freshwater sculpin species found in Northern Europe, it can be told from the alpine bullhead ''Cottus poecilopus'' by the fact that the rays of its pelvic fins are of similar lengths while the first and last rays are longer in the alpine bullhead. It can be distinguished from the fourhorn sculpin
The fourhorn sculpin (''Myoxocephalus quadricornis'') is a species of fish in the family Cottidae. It is a demersal fish distributed mainly in brackish arctic coastal waters in Canada, Greenland, Russia, and Alaska, and also as a relict in the bo ...
by the fact that the dorsal and anal fins terminate close to the tail giving a short caudal peduncle
Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as see ...
. When it rests on the bottom, the pectoral fins flare out resembling wings. The bullhead is usually about long and is light brown mottled with darker colour. The pelvic fins are colourless and lack the stripes of the alpine bullhead.
Biology
Food items eaten by the bullhead include benthic insects,crustaceans
Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean gro ...
and other invertebrates
Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordat ...
. It breeds in the spring. The male digs a shallow hollow in which batches of eggs are deposited by several females. He then guards the nest for the month or so that it takes for the eggs to hatch.
Systematics and distribution
The European bullhead, as treated above, is widespread over most of the subcontinent and in England, but absent from the southern peninsulae and from Northern Scandinavia. It is not a single uniform taxon
In biology, a taxon ( back-formation from '' taxonomy''; plural taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular n ...
, however, but composed of morphologically and genetically differentiated subunits. Some of those have been distinguished already long time ago as separate subspecies or species with their own names, while in practice they have still mostly been treated under the concept of ''Cottus gobio''. In 2005, Freyhof et al. suggested subdivision of the European ''Cottus gobio'' into fourteen distinct species, of which six had been described earlier and eight were newly described and named.
*'' Cottus aturi'' - France ( Adour)
*'' Cottus duranii'' - France (upper Dordogne
Dordogne ( , or ; ; oc, Dordonha ) is a large rural department in Southwestern France, with its prefecture in Périgueux. Located in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region roughly half-way between the Loire Valley and the Pyrenees, it is name ...
, Loire
The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhône ...
etc.)
*''Cottus gobio
The European bullhead (''Cottus gobio'') is a freshwater fish that is widely distributed in Europe, mainly in rivers. It is a member of the family Cottidae, a type of sculpin. It is also known as the miller's thumb, freshwater sculpin, common b ...
'' sensu stricto - Germany, Sweden, Central Europe
*''Cottus haemusi
''Cottus haemusi'' is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the family Cottidae, the typical sculpins. It is found in Bulgaria. It inhabits the of the Danube
The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontie ...
'' - Bulgaria ( Beli Vit of Danube basin)
*'' Cottus hispaniolensis'' - France, Spain (Garonne
The Garonne (, also , ; Occitan, Catalan, Basque, and es, Garona, ; la, Garumna
or ) is a river of southwest France and northern Spain. It flows from the central Spanish Pyrenees to the Gironde estuary at the French port of Bordeaux – ...
)
*'' Cottus koshewnikowi'' - Northeast Europe
*'' Cottus metae'' - Danube drainage (Sava
The Sava (; , ; sr-cyr, Сава, hu, Száva) is a river in Central and Southeast Europe, a right-bank and the longest tributary of the Danube. It flows through Slovenia, Croatia and along its border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and finally t ...
)
*'' Cottus microstomus'' - East Central Europe: Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine etc.
*''Cottus perifretum
''Cottus perifretum'', the bullhead or miller’s thumb, is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the family Cottidae, the typical sculpins. It is found on both sides of the English Channel, native to Great Britain. It also inhabits ...
'' - Great Britain, Netherlands, Germany, France
*'' Cottus petiti'' - France ( Lez)
*'' Cottus rhenanus'' - Netherlands, Germany
*'' Cottus rondeleti'' - France (Hérault
Hérault (; oc, Erau, ) is a department of the region of Occitania, Southern France. Named after the Hérault River, its prefecture is Montpellier. It had a population of 1,175,623 in 2019.Cottus scaturigo'' - Italy (Trieste, local)
*''Bullhead ''Cottus gobio''
The Wildlife Trusts ead March 2016/ref>
Cottus transsilvaniae
''Cottus transsilvaniae'' is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the family Cottidae, the typical sculpins. It is endemic to Romania in the upper Arges River in the Danube drainage. It reaches a maximum length of 9.7 cm. It ...
'' - Romania ( Argeș of Danube basin)
For instance, in this classification the British bullhead are ''Cottus perifretum
''Cottus perifretum'', the bullhead or miller’s thumb, is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the family Cottidae, the typical sculpins. It is found on both sides of the English Channel, native to Great Britain. It also inhabits ...
''. In common usage and by e.g. conservation authorities, they are still mostly treated as ''Cottus gobio''.The Wildlife Trusts ead March 2016/ref>
References
External links
* {{Authority control Cottus (fish) Freshwater fish of Europe Fish of Europe Fish described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus