Latin name

Gymnocanthus tricuspis

Other name

Gymnocanthus tricuspis

Identification

The Arctic staghorn sculpin has flat bone plates on the back and top of the head. The lateral line scales are tubes embedded in the skin. There are few or no antennae on the head or body. The uppermost tarsal spur is long and has 1 or more curved spines on its upper surface. This species differs from its relatives in having no tubercles behind the eyes and on the back of the head, a thinner interorbital space that is less than 10% of the length of the head, and many small plates between the eyes.

Features of fish fins

The dorsal fins of these fish are supported by 10 to 12 spines and 14 to 17 soft rays, while the anal fin has 15 to 19 soft rays.

Fish colouring

The Arctic staghorn sculpin has a dark upper body with two blackish-brown stripes of dark spots on the sides. There is an irregular line of dark spots below the lateral line, and the underside of the body is pale, yellowish in females, while males have rounded white spots on the abdomen. The dorsal fins have light and dark stripes, while the caudal, anal and pectoral fins are pale with a yellow tip and 4-5 diagonal lines of dark spots on the pectoral fins.

Distribution

This species is found in the Arctic Ocean and the northeastern and northwestern Atlantic. In North American waters it is usually found as far south as the Gulf of St. Lawrence, sometimes as far south as Maine. In European waters it extends from the eastern coasts of Greenland, Iceland, along the northern coast of Norway northward to the White and Barents Seas, Spitsbergen and Novaya Zemlya.

Habitat

Polar marine fish. It is a bottom-dwelling fish that inhabits shallow waters near shore at depths of about 450 m (1,480 ft), although it is usually found at depths less than 200 m (660 ft). It has been recorded on a variety of substrates, including mud, gravel, and rock, and burrows in sand and silty-sand substrates.

Size

The maximum published total length of this species is 12 inches (30 cm).

Behavior

Arctic staghorn sculpin burrow in sand and sandy-silt bottoms with salinities of 32-35 ppb, sometimes as low as 16-30 ppb.

Food and feeding habits

Predators that feed on polychaetes, gastropods, krill, benthic amphipods and echiurids.

Reproduction

Fish of this species spawn in late fall through winter, with females laying 2,000 to 5,500 bottom eggs, from which pelagic larvae and juveniles hatch and sink to the bottom 20 to 30 mm (0.79 to 1.18 inches) long. They reach sexual maturity at 5 to 6 years or 220 to 260 mm (8.7 to 10.2 inches).

Fishing

This species is not commercially important.

Relationship with a person

Harmless.