The large head of a grunt sculpin makes up over half of their total body length. They have a long, pointed snout and 2 bony ridges on top. This fish is scaleless and instead has small plates with numerous tiny spines. The body has a base color of cream or tan, with brown streaks, and a bright red or orange streak on the caudal peduncle. The fins have an orange-red color.
Habitat
Tidepools and shallow coastal waters with rocky bottoms or sandy areas with rubble to depths of 846 feet.
Diet
A variety of small crustaceans: amphipods, copepods, isopods, shrimps, crabs, and also worms and insects.
Life History
Spawn August to October, with females chasing males. When a female traps a male, in a barnacle shell or other enclosed area, she will lay about 150 yellow or orange eggs. The male fertilizes the eggs and often the female will leave and the male stays to guard the nest. Sometimes she returns and they take turns guarding the eggs. After 16-20 weeks, the guarding parent will assist the hatching process by taking the eggs into the mouth and spitting them out, causing them to break open. Larvae hatch as small as 0.2 inches long and swim off, settling to the bottom at about 0.6 inches long. Grunt sculpins can reach a maximum length of 3.7 inches and live to at least 13 years of age under human care.
IUCN Status
Least Concern
Ecosystem & Cultural Importance
The predators of grunt sculpin include Pacific halibut, quillback rockfish, pigeon guillemots, and river otters.
Love, Milton S. Certainly more than you want to know about the fishes of the Pacific Coast: a postmodern experience. Really Big Press: Santa Barbara. 2011. 649 pp. ISBN 978-0-9628725-6-3.
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