This month’s article series will be about…
Titlow Beach, Washington! Unfortunately we have had a few issues with our software which are not allowing our posts to upload as scheduled. We do apologize for this inconvenience. Titlow beach is in the city of Tacoma which is 33 miles or 55 kilometers from Seattle. It is part of the bay Puget Sound. Titlow beach is a popular scuba diving area as it has much wildlife. It is incredibly beautiful & has a small boardwalk along it. Titlow Beach also has a designated marine preserve. Today’s article will be about the Buffalo sculpin of Titlow Beach. The Buffalo Sculpin is incredibly interesting & a popular thing to see for the scuba divers of Puget sound. It has been reported that when held that they give off a low humming sound. This article will discuss the lives of the Buffalo Sculpin, the mating procedures, practices, tactics, & cycles of the buffalo sculpin, the distribution of the buffalo sculpin, & the role of the buffalo sculpin in the ecosystems of Titlow Beach. Sculpin are incredibly diverse & strange creatures. This makes them the point of study for many. However in the species if Enophrys Bison they are still somewhat undiscovered. With that being said, lets delve into the lives of the buffalo sculpin.
The Lives Of The Buffalo Sculpin
It is not clear who or when the Buffalo Sculpin was officially discovered. We don’t know who it was discovered by either. They can grow up to be Approximately 36.999926 centimeters long or 14.5669 inches long. However they are usually around 10-12 inches or 25.4-30.48 centimeters. Their dorsal finn can grow to be 3.175 centimeters long or 1.25 inches long. It is not exactly clear the approximate life span of this fish. They are territorial & enjoy being solitary instead of being in groups. They occupy individual spaces & dislike socializing with each other. They are usually aggressive especially towards other sculpin species, however they are timid when it cones to humans. They do not pose a threat to most fisherman or scuba divers. They often will not even interact with humans or any other large species. They approximately weigh 1-2 pounds however they can be up to 3.5 pounds in weight. Their diet is incredibly diverse however they usually feed on shellfish, algae, & small crustaceans. They are not cannibalistic in any way that we know of. It is not known what they are preyed upon by but their sharp dorsal & pectoral fins make it extremely hard for them to be attacked by another fish species. They have often blotched colouring & are considered the ugliest of sculpin. They are usually shades of brown, green, grey, maroon, or a faint blue in colour. The fins of this species are usually banded & boney which makes sense since they are ray-finned fish. The features that distinguish this sculpin are: its long, smooth & boney spine that extends from the upper cheek with a smaller spine below; the wide head with short, steep snout and mouth that extends to the middle of the eye; & a lateral line that is high on the back with large, raised scales. The remainder of the body is unscaled & rather smooth or fleshy.
The Mating Procedures, Practices, Tactics, & Cycles Of The Buffalo Sculpin
The Buffalo Sculpin are strange creatures when it comes to their mating patterns. The females fertilize the eggs with the males via sexual reproduction. They then can lay from 19,000 to 32,000 fertilized eggs. These eggs are usually laid on either a coral reefed area or a rock. They are usually laid at depths of 12.00000648 meters or 39.3701 feet. The male’s then guards these fertilized eggs from predatory species for 5 to 6 weeks until they have hatched.
This image depicts a father Buffalo Sculpin guarding his fertilized eggs. They lay these eggs in masses in order to maximize security on the eggs while they are in the fertilized egg stage. A male can have multiple egg masses to guard as they are not monogamous. The males typically have a group of females eggs all in one place in order to watch them all over at the same time. They are active in the juvenile’s life after it has hatched & do display a type of parental care. They are not hermaphroditic & they reproduce sexually, they have no way of producing asexually. They do have specific mating seasons where the population spikes with those seasons being as follows: late winter & early spring.
The Distribution Of The Buffalo Sculpin
The Buffalo Sculpin is incredibly diverse when it comes to environmental choosing. They can be found everywhere from Kodiak Island Alaska, to Monterrey California. They enjoy colder temperatures with lower salinity levels. They are frequently caught by fisherman off the western coast of the United States as they are quite common. However they are not found in high densities as they do not encroach on others territories. They are not edible in any way so they often get thrown back into the ocean after being caught. However if you do happen to catch a particularly large one you should take a picture & report your findings. They are not known to be found further then the eastern area of the Gulf of Alaska so if you find one further out then you should report this as this means they have moved into extremely cold temperatures.
The Scientific Detailings Of Buffalo Sculpin
The Buffalo Sculpin are incredibly interesting. They have extending spiky dorsal fins that are connected directly to their spine. They are incredibly boney as they are part of the class known as Actinopterygii. This means that they are incredibly boney ray-finned fish rather than fleshy less structured fish. They also have large spiky pectoral fins that extend from the sides. These are estimated to only grow to be up to 2.3 inches long. It is not known how long the species has existed for. Since sculpin are so diverse they have no identified closely related sculpin species. They get tired out very easily & do not have very much stamina. They do not show empathy as far as we know & are not currently being monitored for any reason as they are non threatened.
They do however know to guard their children before birth which shows some level of intelligence. They have sharp teeth used to rip apart prey. They are internationally known as Enophrys Bison. Their phylum is known as Chordata meaning that they developed these 5 characteristics all species under the phylum of chordata develop 5 similar characteristics either in adulthood or as juveniles. Over 60,000 species are categorized under Chordata at the time of publishing. The characteristics that they develop include, a notochord, dorsal hollow nerve cord, endostyle or thyroid, pharyngeal Slits, & a post-anal tail. Their class is Actinopterygii, this means that they are ray-finned fish. Over 50% of living vertebrates are categorized under this class. This also means that their actinopterygian fin rays attach directly to the proximal or basal skeletal elements. This classification makes sense as they are incredibly boney & have incredibly large pectoral & dorsal fins. Their order is Scorpaeniformes. This order is an incredibly diverse order of ray-finned boney fish which included lionfish. This order is the 5th largest order of ray-finned fish. This order also has over 1,320 species categorized under it at the time of publishing. Their family is Cottidae which is in the superfamily of Cottidea. It is the largest sculpin family with 275 species categorized under it & 70 genera categorized under it at the time of publishing. It is also the most diverse environment wise family of sculpin. Their genus is known as Enophrys. This genus is of sculpins which are all in the northern or eastern ocean. There are 4 species categorized under this genus at the time of publishing.
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