BC Conservation Data Centre: Species Summary
Cottus rhotheus
Torrent Sculpin
| Scientific Name: | Cottus rhotheus (Smith, 1882) | ||||||||||
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| English Name: | Torrent Sculpin | ||||||||||
| Classification / Taxonomy | |||||||||||
| Scientific Name - Concept Reference: | Robins, C.R., R.M. Bailey, C.E. Bond, J.R. Brooker, E.A. Lachner, R.N. Lea, and W.B. Scott. 1991. Common and scientific names of fishes from the United States and Canada. American Fisheries Society, Special Publication 20. 183 pp. | ||||||||||
| Classification Level: | Species | ||||||||||
| Species Group: | Vertebrate Animal | ||||||||||
| Species Code: | F-CORH | ||||||||||
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| Conservation Status / Legal Designation | |||||||||||
| Global Status: | G5 (Feb 2016) | ||||||||||
| Provincial Status: | S4S5 (Sep 2025) | ||||||||||
| BC List: | Yellow | ||||||||||
| Provincial FRPA list: | |||||||||||
| Provincial Wildlife Act: | |||||||||||
| COSEWIC Status: | |||||||||||
| SARA Schedule: | |||||||||||
| General Status Canada: | 4 - Secure (2005) | ||||||||||
| Ecology & Life History | |||||||||||
| General Description: | |||||||||||
| Global Reproduction Comments: | Spawns late spring. In British Columbia, spawns April-June. Egg production varies geographically and individually; in Newaukum Creek, Washington, females produced 165 eggs at age 2, 2,258 at age 3 (Wydoski and Whitney 1979). Sexually mature in 2 years, may live 6 years. | ||||||||||
| Migration Characteristics: (Global / Provincial) | |||||||||||
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Nonmigrant: Local Migrant: Distant Migrant: Within Borders Migrant: |
N / Y / N / na / |
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| Global Migration Comments: | May migrate upstream to spawn. | ||||||||||
| Habitats: (Type / Subtype / Dependence) |
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| Global Habitat Comments: | Habitat includes swift waters (generally with velocities of 1.4-4.0 feet per second) of small to large rivers with stable gravel or rubble bottoms (Wydoski and Whitney 1979, Page and Burr 2011); also rocky lake shores. Eggs are deposited under stones, in swift water. | ||||||||||
| Food Habits: |
Invertivore: Adult, Immature
Piscivore: Adult, Immature |
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| Global Food Habits Comments: | Young eat planktonic crustaceans and aquatic insect larvae. As they grow in size they feed mainly on insects. Fishes become increasingly important in the diet of sculpins over 55 mm (Scott and Crossman 1973). | ||||||||||
| Global Phenology: | |||||||||||
| Provincial Phenology: (1st half of month/ 2nd half of month) |
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| Colonial Breeder: | N | ||||||||||
| Length(cm)/width(cm)/Weight(g): | 8/ / | ||||||||||
| Elevation (m) (min / max): |
Global:
Provincial: |
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| Distribution | |||||||||||
| Endemic: | N | ||||||||||
| Global Range Comment: | Range includes Pacific Slope drainages from upper Fraser River drainage, British Columbia, to Nehalem River, Oregon, including the Columbia River drainage in British Columbia, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and Oregon (Page and Burr 2011). Reported also from Fish Lake, Harney County, Oregon, where the species evidently was introduced with stocked trout (Lee et al. 1980). | ||||||||||
| Authors / Contributors | |||||||||||
| Global Information Author: | Hammerson, G. | ||||||||||
| Last Updated: | Nov 11, 2011 | ||||||||||
| Provincial Information Author: | |||||||||||
| Last Updated: | |||||||||||
| References and Related Literature | |||||||||||
Koster, W. J. 1936. The life history and ecology of the sculpins (Cottidae) in central New York. Ph.D. thesis, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York |
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Lee, D. S., C. R. Gilbert, C. H. Hocutt, R. E. Jenkins, D. E. McAllister, and J. R. Stauffer, Jr. 1980. Atlas of North American freshwater fishes. North Carolina State Museum of Natural History, Raleigh, North Carolina. i-x + 854 pp. |
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Nelson, J. S. 1984. Fishes of the world. Second edition. John Wiley & Sons, New York. xv + 523 pp. |
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Page, L. M., and B. M. Burr. 1991. A field guide to freshwater fishes: North America north of Mexico. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts. 432 pp. |
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Robins, C.R., R.M. Bailey, C.E. Bond, J.R. Brooker, E.A. Lachner, R.N. Lea, and W.B. Scott. 1991. Common and scientific names of fishes from the United States and Canada. American Fisheries Society, Special Publication 20. 183 pp. |
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Scott, W. B., and E. J. Crossman. 1973. Freshwater fishes of Canada. Fisheries Research Board of Canada, Bulletin 184. 966 pp. |
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Wydoski, R. S., and R. R. Whitney. 1979. Inland fishes of Washington. The University of Washington Press, Seattle. 220 pp. |
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Please visit the website Conservation Status Ranks for definitions of the data fields used in this summary report.
Suggested Citation:
B.C. Conservation Data Centre. 2011. Species Summary: Cottus rhotheus. B.C. Minist. of Environment. Available: https://a100.gov.bc.ca/pub/eswp/ (accessed Oct 4, 2025).