Northwest Dive Club

Malinda and I found this guy at Monterey, following the big pipe that leads out from the beach near the breakwater to the "Metridium field," a popular destination that's supposed to be just what its name implies. We never got to it, there was so much to explore along the way we used our air - on 90 minute dives - long before we got to the Metridiums. Anyway, he was in about 25 fsw. He's clearly a sculpin, and at first I thought he was just another scalyhead. But as I looked closer, I wasn't so sure. And it wasn't just the color, because I know scalyheads can change color. Certain other things didn't match, like the odd way those really tiny cirri on his head are laid back to the point of near invisibility, the orangish patch below his lateral line, and the snout that's a bit longer than the scalyhead. While I won't go to the Wall for it at this point, I do believe this is the Coralline Sculpin described by Humann on page 62. Here are the pix, for either confirmation or refutation.

This one shows the line of scales between his dorsal fin and lateral line, as well as the rather long and pointed snout (as sculpins go):



This one shows the near-solid-color stripe below his lateral line as well as the saddle-type markings along his back:



This one illustrates how smooth his head is and how elongated it is:



He tried to hide from us by sneaking under a big gumboot chiton that was climbing from the bottom up to the side of a rock. As Malinda followed him with her camera, I snuck around to the other side of the chiton and got him as he was peeking out. If you look closely you can see what appear to be tiny cirri lying back on his head, right at the color division line on top of his head. As I said, everything seems to fit. But as always, I'm willing to be corrected.

Pretty sure it's still a scaly head Dave. These guys are the master of disguise. They take on different colors and patterns to match there surroundings and the younger ones tend to have more pointed heads which get rounder as they get bigger. The bars accross the back and the and through the eyes are pretty classic signs. Look close if you can see rows of scales along the dorsal fin simular to a red irish lord it's a scaly head

I'm glad you posted these pictures. I saw a lot of these guys in Monterey -- Many of them had a vividly bright orange patch behind the head. I assumed they were scalyheaded sculpins, but just very differently colored. So I'll be following this discussion with great interest.

This fellow wasn't a younger one; he was probably a good 3 1/2 to 4 inches long. Generally when I see the striped eye and the "hairs" along the sides, I think "scalyhead." But a couple of things suggested differently with this guy. The Coralline has the row of scales like the scalyhead, and while I know scalyheads can change color, there wasn't anything nearby that might have prompted him to turn purple. So I'm still torn.

LCF, were all the ones you saw this purplish color?

Take a look at these and see what you think. Both scalys. Yours could be something different or just a Montery adaptation. Hope Jana chimes in on this one. She does Montery allot.

No, the ones I saw were more like the color in Dusty's second photo, except the patch behind the head was a lighter, bright orange.

But I don't trust sculpins for color. Last time I did Sunrise, I found a Red Irish Lord that was lavender -- I'm not kidding!

Yeah, we see scalyheads everywhere, and found more than a couple down there. That was why this one caught my eye, he just doesn't fit the profile. I don't go by color at all, because scalyheads are chameleons. But they're one sculpin I can identify consistently, and this guy looks... different. How's that for specific?????

Dave, I'm pretty sure the ones you saw and posted photos of were Coralline Sculpins. I wholeheartedly agree on your ID.

And Rich, your second photo is most likely a Padded Sculpin, not a Scalyhead Sculpin. The absence of cirri, and the presence of round looking scales about the lateral line, as well as the difference in the eye lines (two lines instead of three) are big clues.

Sculpins belonging to the genus Artedius are infamous for throwing curve balls at divers when it comes to ID. That includes:
Scalyhead Sculpins
Coralline Sculpins
Padded Sculpins
Smoothhead Sculpins

All of these look VERY similar, with some very minor differences. Little teeny details, like the eyes, and the area above the dorsal fin - what the scales look like there, and shape of the head, and absence or presence of cirri.

The thing to remember is that the Coralline Sculpin is the most common sculpin in the Monterey area, whereas the Scalyhead Sculpin is the most common sculpin in our waters up here. Range is a big clue too.

Hope that helps a bit!

- Janna

nwscubamom wrote:Dave, I'm pretty sure the ones you saw and posted photos of were Coralline Sculpins. I wholeheartedly agree on your ID.

And Rich, your second photo is most likely a Padded Sculpin, not a Scalyhead Sculpin. The absence of cirri, and the presence of round looking scales about the lateral line, as well as the difference in the eye lines (two lines instead of three) are big clues.

Sculpins belonging to the genus Artedius are infamous for throwing curve balls at divers when it comes to ID. That includes:
Scalyhead Sculpins
Coralline Sculpins
Padded Sculpins
Smoothhead Sculpins

All of these look VERY similar, with some very minor differences. Little teeny details, like the eyes, and the area above the dorsal fin - what the scales look like there, and shape of the head, and absence or presence of cirri.

The thing to remember is that the Coralline Sculpin is the most common sculpin in the Monterey area, whereas the Scalyhead Sculpin is the most common sculpin in our waters up here. Range is a big clue too.

Hope that helps a bit!

- Janna

Helps a lot! I was really hoping you'd chime in on this one, thanks. I did not realize it was the most common in the Monterey area. That makes it that much more curious that we only found the one. I did find a couple of scalyheads down there. This one was at the breakwater:



And this one was at the wharf:



Having come across so many of those ubiquitous little fellers up here, I like to think I'm pretty good at ID'ing them, but that could just be ego...

Hmmm, those (especially the first one) don't look like Scalyheads to me, but I could be wrong or it could be just the angle - you might check out the Snubnose Sculpin as another possibility.

I'm basing this on the shape of the head, the lines in the eyes (the direction they go and how many there are), and the rough scales on the back look different and more plentiful than the ones you'd find on a Scalyhead Sculpin. Also...where are the cirri?

Maybe Greg can chime in here - he's the one I go to for these pesky sculpin ID's!

- Janna

Interesting! I never paid that much attention to the direction of the bars in the eyes before, and I haven't really seen anything in the books about that. Can you elaborate? As you may have guessed by now, I've become a hopeless sculpophile...

You won't find it in any of the books - or at least I haven't. Just from my observations - and it alone can't tell you what it is, but it does give a good clue.

In Scalyheads there are three rather X shaped red lines usually through the eyes.

In younger Great Sculpins there are two, forming a nice X. Sometimes you will notice it in the adults as well.

The Padded Sculpin (looks almost identical to a Scalyhead with minor differences) has two lines, often black, but sometimes red, at a very mildly angled X shape through the eyes.

On the Coralline Sculpin, the lines through the eyes are a bit thicker and are red usually, and in the X shape.

And on the Snubnose, the lines through the eyes are more parallel than in an X shape.

Now there's nothing super scientific about any of this - it's just little ol' me making some observations, desperately trying to find a good way for divers to be able to easily ID these pesky buggers!

Hope it helps some!

- Janna

PS: Those of you who have taken the basic REEF Fish ID course may want to sign up now for a spot in the Advanced Fish ID course. May 17th at the Seattle Aquarium - and spots are filling up fast! Go here to register:
http://www.pnwscuba.com/critterwatchers/classes.htm

nwscubamom wrote: PS: Those of you who have taken the basic REEF Fish ID course may want to sign up now for a spot in the Advanced Fish ID course. May 17th at the Seattle Aquarium - and spots are filling up fast! Go here to register:
http://www.pnwscuba.com/critterwatchers/classes.htm

Just finished signing up!

Woo Hoo! Got you on the list!

Thanks Tom - will be nice to teach this class - I'll probably learn more from YOU guys than the other way around!

- Janna

nwscubamom wrote:You won't find it in any of the books - or at least I haven't. Just from my observations - and it alone can't tell you what it is, but it does give a good clue.

In Scalyheads there are three rather X shaped red lines usually through the eyes.

In younger Great Sculpins there are two, forming a nice X. Sometimes you will notice it in the adults as well.

The Padded Sculpin (looks almost identical to a Scalyhead with minor differences) has two lines, often black, but sometimes red, at a very mildly angled X shape through the eyes.

On the Coralline Sculpin, the lines through the eyes are a bit thicker and are red usually, and in the X shape.

And on the Snubnose, the lines through the eyes are more parallel than in an X shape.

Now there's nothing super scientific about any of this - it's just little ol' me making some observations, desperately trying to find a good way for divers to be able to easily ID these pesky buggers!

Wow! That's a definite keeper.

Coralline and smoothhead are hard to tell apart, as it involves counting scales. I think it's probably a coralline, given the location and what scales I can count when I blow the picture up. There's also a subtle difference in the head.
The second picture (in the second batch) is a smoothhead, not a padded. Paddeds have a shorter snout and very large nasal spines.
The last set of pictures is a snubnose.

Actually I should revise that- the first of the last two pics is definitely a snubnose, the second doesn't look right- the scales aren't large enough and the snout isn't blunt enough. Maybe a small scalyhead.

I see two possible ways to view sculpins: either a) a challenge, or b) annoying!

(I'll go with a...)

nwscubamom wrote:Dave, I'm pretty sure the ones you saw and posted photos of were Coralline Sculpins. I wholeheartedly agree on your ID.

And Rich, your second photo is most likely a Padded Sculpin, not a Scalyhead Sculpin. The absence of cirri, and the presence of round looking scales about the lateral line, as well as the difference in the eye lines (two lines instead of three) are big clues.

Sculpins belonging to the genus Artedius are infamous for throwing curve balls at divers when it comes to ID. That includes:
Scalyhead Sculpins
Coralline Sculpins
Padded Sculpins
Smoothhead Sculpins

All of these look VERY similar, with some very minor differences. Little teeny details, like the eyes, and the area above the dorsal fin - what the scales look like there, and shape of the head, and absence or presence of cirri.

The thing to remember is that the Coralline Sculpin is the most common sculpin in the Monterey area, whereas the Scalyhead Sculpin is the most common sculpin in our waters up here. Range is a big clue too.

Hope that helps a bit!

- Janna

Wow Thanks Jana That is very good info and will go in my info files for sure. Now I know just how little I actually know about sculpins! Maybe from now on I'll just say "pretty little sculpin" so I won't look like a dummy

Oh and while we are IDing sculpins---- What about these guys???





OK Lots of scales to count, lots of cirri, and too many lines in the eyes. Am I right in saying it's a scaly???

First one is a Spinynose Sculpin - look for the "Five O'Clock Shadow" on its chin for a big ID clue on those guys.

Second one is a male Scalyhead Sculpin - large cirri coming out from the FRONT of its eyes, bright orange gills and super fat lips is a big clue on those.

Thanks for posting the pics!

- Janna

There's no question that this guy is a scalyhead. Check out the detail in my daughter's shot of him!



And here's an angle that you don't see very often. I really like this one because it shows the distinctive shape of those cirri, which you don't get in the average side shot. It also gives a good view of his anal fin: