The rosy sculpin (''Oligocottus rubellio'') is a species of marine

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or hor ...

belonging to the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

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 ...

, the typical

sculpin A sculpin is a type of fish that belongs to the superfamily Cottoidea in the order Scorpaeniformes.Kane, E. A. and T. E. Higham. (2012)Life in the flow lane: differences in pectoral fin morphology suggest transitions in station-holding demand a ...

s. It inhabits the coastal northeastern Pacific Ocean, ranging from

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

(US) to

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

Taxonomy

The rosy sculpin was first formally described in as ''Eximia rubeliio'' in 1899 by the A merican

physiologist Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical a ...

and

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish ( Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of Octobe ...

Arthur White Greeley Arthur White Greeley (June 13 1875 – March 15, 1904) was an American physiologist and ichthyologist. Greeley was born in Oswego, New York, the eldest of two sons of Frank Norton Greeley, a Congregational clergyman, and Anna Cheney (Buckhout) Gree ...

with its type locality given as

Monterey, California Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under bo ...

. The

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

, ''rubellio'', means “the rosy one”, an allusion to the pale red or pink color it can show.

Description

The rosy sculpin has a smooth body, lacking scales or prickles. The nasal spine has a cirrus and up to 4 more cirri on the rear of the jaw. There are tufts, made up of cirri, along the

dorsal fin A dorsal fin is a fin located on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates within various taxa of the animal kingdom. Many species of animals possessing dorsal fins are not particularly closely related to each other, though through conv ...

base, the lateral line and on the head. The topmost spine on the

preoperculum This glossary of ichthyology is a list of definitions of terms and concepts used in ichthyology, the study of fishes. A B C ...

has between 2 and 4 points, 3 is typical. The dorsal fin contains between 7 and 9 spines and between 13 and 17 soft rays while the

anal fin 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 se ...

is supported by between 10 and 14 soft rays. The

caudal fin 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 se ...

is rounded. This species has a maximum published

total length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies. These data are used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fisheries biology. Overall length * Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish ...

of . It is reddish brown to pink or lavender on the upper body and greenish to brown on the lower body. There are dark saddle-like blotches along the back, pale spots along the flank and dark bars radiate from the eyes.

Distribution and habitat

The rosy sculpin is found in the eastern Pacific Ocean where it is found from

Fort Bragg, California Fort Bragg, officially the City of Fort Bragg, is a city along the Pacific Coast of California along Shoreline Highway in Mendocino County. The city is west of Willits, at an elevation of . Its population was 6,983 at the 2020 census. Fort ...

south to Punta Baja, near El Rosario, Baja California. This species is found in rocky habitats in the intertidal and sub tidal zones down to .

Biology

The rosy sculpin eats polychaetes and amphipods, the larger fish also prey on

shrimp Shrimp are crustaceans (a form of shellfish) with elongated bodies and a primarily swimming mode of locomotion – most commonly Caridea and Dendrobranchiata of the decapod order, although some crustaceans outside of this order are refer ...

and small crabs.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:sculpin, rosy rosy sculpin Western American coastal fauna rosy sculpin