Specific features of ecology of the clownfin sculpin Artediellus camchaticus Gilbert et Burke, 1912 (Pisces: Scorpaeniformes: Cottidae) in the Pacific waters near Kamchatka and Kuril Islands

A.M. Tokranov and A.M. Orlov

Proceedings of the Zoological Institute RAS, 2015, 319(2): 257–268 · https://doi.org/10.31610/trudyzin/2015.319.2.257

Full text

Abstract

Specific features of ecology of the clownfin sculpin Artediellus camchaticus (Cottidae) in the Pacific waters off the southeastern Kamchatka and northern Kuril Islands are provided. Main habitation area of this relatively rare and small species of sculpins with maximal length 19 cm and body weight to 50 g is waters of the lower part of the shelf with near-bottom temperatures 0–2 °С, where it most frequently occurred with walleye pollock Theragra chalcogramma and northern rock sole Lepidopsetta polyxystra. Smallest individuals stay mainly in bathymetric interval 151–250 m, while relatively large – mainly on smaller and greater depths. Clownfin sculpin is benthophage, main food objects of which (over 98% by weight) are amphipods and polychaetеs. Catch rates and occurrence of clownfin sculpin in the Pacific waters off the southeastern Kamchatka and northern Kuril Islands are subjected to some interannual, seasonal, and diurnal dynamics.

Key words

biology, catch dynamics, distribution, Pacific Ocean, clownfin sculpin, Artediellus camchaticus

Submitted July 17, 2014 · Accepted April 17, 2015 · Published June 25, 2015

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