Roughback Sculpin, Chitonotus pugetensis

Roughback Sculpin, Chitonotus pugetensis. Fish caught off the Edmonds Fishing Pier, Edmonds, Washington, June 2022. Length: 13 cm (5.1 inches). Catch, photograph, and identification courtesy of Chris Moore, Peoria, Arizona.

Roughback Sculpin, Chitonotus pugetensis. Fish caught from within the Puget Sound, Seattle, Washington, November 2020. Length: 13 cm (5.1 inches). Catch, photographs and identifications courtesy of Luke Ovgard, Klamath Falls, Oregon.

Roughback Sculpin, Chitonotus pugetensis. Fish caught from a pier in Port Alberni, British Columbia, August 2021. Length: 14 cm (5.5 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of of George Brinkman, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.

Roughback Sculpin, Chitonotus pugetensis. Fish caught from the coastal waters off Seattle, Washington, March 2016. Length: 15 cm (6.0 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of Eli (obsessiveangling.wordpress.com).

The Roughback Sculpin, Chitonotus pugetensis, is a member of the Sculpin or Cottidae Family, that is known in Mexico as charrasco espalda rugosa. Globally, there are six species in the genus Clinocottus of which three are found in Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean.

The Roughback Sculpin has an elongated tapering body with a large, depressed, flattened, and wide head. They are brown and gray in color dorsally transitioning to white ventrally, with dark saddles and blotches. Their first dorsal fin has a black edge and a red blotch during spawning season. They have large, antler-like spines on their cheeks, an elongated first dorsal spine and a deep notch between the third and fourth dorsal spines. Their anal fin has 14 to 17 rays; their caudal fin is large and rounded; their dorsal fin has 10 or 11 spines and 14 to 17 rays; their pectoral fins have 16 to 18 rays and, their pelvic fins have 1 spine and 3 rays and are small. They have 6 to 10 gill rakers. They are almost completely covered with large scales.

The Roughback Sculpin is a demersal species that is found within sand, gravel, small rocks, and bedrock in the intertidal zone to depths up to 144 m (474 feet). They reach a maximum of 23 cm (9.0 inches) in length. They are nocturnal ambush predators that lie in wait and consume crustaceans, small fishes, polychaetes and larvaceans. In turn they are preyed upon by various birds, sea lions and seals. Reproduction is oviparous with internal fertilization. Each female is cable of laying up to three batches of 3,100 eggs per year that are deposited on worm tubes and other bottom substrate. The Roughback Sculpin is poorly studied with very limited information available about their lifestyle and behavioral patterns including specific details on age, growth, longevity, movement patterns, diet, habitat use, and reproduction.

The Roughback Sculpin is a resident of Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean but has a limited distribution, being found from Bahia Santa Maria, Baja California Sur northward along the west coast of Baja.

From a conservation perspective the Roughback Sculpin has not been formally evaluated. They are small in stature and of interest to most, however, they are utilized by the public aquarium trade at a modest level. They date to the Pliocene period, 1.8 million years ago.