Pacific staghorn sculpin

The Pacific staghorn sculpin was first formally described in 1854 by the French biologist Charles Frédéric Girard with its type locality given as San Francisco in California. Girard placed it in a new monospecific genus, Leptocottus. The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies the genus Leptocottus within the subfamily Cottinae of the family Cottidae, ==Etymology==

The Pacific staghorn sculpin's genus name, Leptocottus, is a combination of leptos, meaning "slender", and Cottus. The specific name armatus means "armed", a reference to the large and sharp spines on the preoperculum. ==Description==

Pacific staghorn sculpins are slender fish, This species reaches a maximum total length of but is more typical. ==Distribution and habitat==

The Pacific staghorn sculpin is found in the eastern Pacific Ocean along the western coast of North America from the Izembek Lagoon, on the southeastern Bering Sea coast of Alaska south as far as San Quintín, Baja California. These sculpins are commonly found near the shore, particularly in bays and estuaries; most often on sandy substrates. As adults they are found in sheltered marine estuaries while the juveniles are found in freshwater streams and upper estuarine environments. ==Biology==

The Pacific staghorn sculpin is a largely marine fish which spends the majority of its life in saline and brackish waters but they can adapt to both fresh and hypersaline waters. The larval stage starts in estuarine environments, being found over soft and sandy substrates. The juveniles leave the estuary, many ascending the rivers into fresh water and most of the fish recorded in freshwater or less saline habitats are young juveniles. These feed on amphipods, invertebrates, small fish, and aquatic insect larvae. The older fishes tend to be found further upstream than the young fish which move into the rivers from marine or estuary environments. Fish living in the sea may move in and out with the tide and prey on crabs, shrimp and other fish. Feeding is mainly nocturnal but they will forage at any time of the day. Spawning takes place in salt or brackish water between October and April, although in California they spawn in January and February. Each female lays between 2 and 10 thousand eggs and following spawning adults rapidly leave for deeper waters. The eggs take 10 days to hatch into larvae. They can breathe air when out of the water. ==References==