The sailfin sculpin is a species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of scorpaeniform

Scorpaeniformes

Scorpaeniformes is an order of ray-finned fish, but it has also been called the Scleroparei.They are known as "mail-cheeked" fishes due to their distinguishing characteristic, the suborbital stay: a backwards extension of the third circumorbital bone across the cheek to the preoperculum, to which...

 marine

Sea

A sea generally refers to a large body of salt water, but the term is used in other contexts as well. Most commonly, it means a large expanse of saline water connected with an ocean, and is commonly used as a synonym for ocean...

 fish

Fish

Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...

 in the sea raven

Sea raven

Sea ravens are a family, Hemitripteridae of scorpaeniform fishes. They are bottom-dwelling fishes that feed on small invertebrates, found in the northwest Atlantic and north Pacific oceans...

 family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Hemitripteridae, native to the eastern Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...

 from St. Lawrence Island

St. Lawrence Island

St. Lawrence Island is located west of mainland Alaska in the Bering Sea, just south of the Bering Strait, at about 63°30' North 173°20' West. The village of Gambell is located on the northwest cape, from the Chukchi Peninsula in the Russian Far East. The island is part of Alaska, but closer to...

, Alaska

Alaska

Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...

 to San Miguel Island

San Miguel Island

San Miguel Island is the westernmost of California's Channel Islands, located across the Santa Barbara Channel in the Pacific Ocean, within Santa Barbara County, California. San Miguel is the sixth-largest of the eight Channel Islands at , including offshore islands and rocks. Prince Island, off...

 off southern California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. Named for its elongated, sail

Sail

A sail is any type of surface intended to move a vessel, vehicle or rotor by being placed in a wind—in essence a propulsion wing. Sails are used in sailing.-History of sails:...

-like first dorsal fin

Dorsal fin

A dorsal fin is a fin located on the backs of various unrelated marine and freshwater vertebrates, including most fishes, marine mammals , and the ichthyosaurs...

, the sailfin sculpin is a popular subject of public aquaria; it is of no interest to commercial fishery.

Physical description

Of the typical cottoid

Sculpin

A Sculpin is a fish that belongs to the order Scorpaeniformes, suborder Cottoidei and superfamily Cottoidea, that contains 11 families, 149 genera, and 756 species...

 body plan, the sailfin sculpin is noted for its conspicuous first dorsal fin dominated by the first four spines, of approximately equal length. The overall body colour is variable, from yellow-brown to yellow-gray; darker bands on the body and red flecks and diagonal streaks may be present on the fins. A distinct, dark band runs through the eye. Maximum recorded length for the species is 20 cm. Highly modified ctenoid scales give the skin a velvety texture.

According to FishBase

FishBase

FishBase is a comprehensive database of information about fish species . It is the largest and most extensively accessed online database on adult finfish on the web...

, a variant of sailfin sculpin occurs in Knight Inlet

Knight Inlet

Knight Inlet is one of the principal inlets of the British Columbia Coast, and the largest of the major inlets in the southern part of the Coast...

, British Columbia

British Columbia

British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...

: the 'sail' of the first dorsal fin is described as appearing "frail" and "more like a mast," and is dominated by the II, III, and I spines rather than the first four spines.

Ecology

The sailfin sculpin is a demersal species, swimming along the bottom with its distinctive dorsal fin held erect and extended forward. N. oculofasciatus inhabits rocky coastal waters to ~110 metres where algae

Algae

Algae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms, such as the giant kelps that grow to 65 meters in length. They are photosynthetic like plants, and "simple" because their tissues are not organized into the many...

 growth is plentiful. Being nocturnally active, it may be found sheltering upside down against crevice roofs during the day. The zoobenthos constitutes the sailfin sculpin's primary prey, especially crab

Crab

True crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura, which typically have a very short projecting "tail" , or where the reduced abdomen is entirely hidden under the thorax...

 and other crustacean

Crustacean

Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...

s.

During late winter to early spring, the sailfin sculpin migrates into the shallower intertidal zone

Intertidal zone

The intertidal zone is the area that is above water at low tide and under water at high tide . This area can include many different types of habitats, with many types of animals like starfish, sea urchins, and some species of coral...

to spawn. The egg mass is orange, and adheres to the bottom. Individuals are sexually mature after one year.