Ecology Summary - Myoxocephalus octodecemspinosus

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Ecology of Myoxocephalus octodecemspinosus

Main Ref.	Laroche, J.L., 1982
Remarks	Commonly found in harbors and shallow coastal waters. Move to deeper water in winter. Adults attach their eggs near the base of a sponge to use as a spawning bed (Ref. 34819, 41075). Benthic. Feeds on crustaceans, zooplankton, zoobenthos, molluscs, sea squirts, squids and fishes (Ref. 13548, 58426). Parasites of the species include 6 protozoans, 3 myxosporidians, 2 nematodes and 4 hirudineans (Ref. 5951).

Main Ref.

Laroche, J.L., 1982

Remarks

Commonly found in harbors and shallow coastal waters. Move to deeper water in winter. Adults attach their eggs near the base of a sponge to use as a spawning bed (Ref. 34819, 41075). Benthic. Feeds on crustaceans, zooplankton, zoobenthos, molluscs, sea squirts, squids and fishes (Ref. 13548, 58426). Parasites of the species include 6 protozoans, 3 myxosporidians, 2 nematodes and 4 hirudineans (Ref. 5951).

Aquatic zones / Water bodies

	Marine - Neritic	Marine - Oceanic	Brackishwater	Freshwater
Marine zones / Brackish and freshwater bodies	supra-littoral zone littoral zone sublittoral zone	epipelagic mesopelagic epipelagic abyssopelagic hadopelagic	estuaries/lagoons/brackish seas mangroves marshes/swamps	rivers/streams lakes/ponds caves exclusively in caves

Highighted items on the list are where Myoxocephalus octodecemspinosus may be found.

Habitat

Substrate
Substrate Ref.
Special habitats
Special habitats Ref.

Associations

Ref.
Associations	schooling; shoaling;
Associated with
Association remarks	A bottom dwelling fish located in the western Atlantic; found in shoals and estuaries down to a depth of 192m; in southern New England spawning takes place inshore from late November through January on rocky bottom; average female deposits around 8000 eggs which are demersal, adhesive, and deposited in clusters on sponges or cavities on hard bottom; eggs measure 1.9-2.3mm in diameter, colour varying from green to orange. Larvae present on the Scotian Shelf from March to May; duration of larval drift, around 30 days. Individuals >30cm were mature. Longhorn sculpin appear to be opportunistic feeders. At present, no information pertaining to population structure, although discontinuities in distribution could suggest population sub-structutre (Ref. 94971). Slow-moving; abundant in many shoal harbors and bays and run up into estuaries, salt creeks, and river mouths, but never into feshwater; have been caught in considerable numbers down to 90 m in the Scotian shelf. Only periodic movements are off and onshore, and of short extent, including seasonal movements to and fro particular grounds in relation to water temperature changes (Ref. 86779).
Parasitism

Feeding

Feeding type	mainly animals (troph. 2.8 and up)
Feeding type Ref.	Hacunda, J.S., 1981
Feeding habit	hunting macrofauna (predator)
Feeding habit Ref.	Coad, B.W. and J.D. Reist, 2004

Trophic Level(s)

Estimation method	Original sample		Unfished population		Remark
Estimation method	Troph	s.e.	Troph	s.e.	Remark
From diet composition	3.62	0.20	3.41	0.40	Troph of juv./adults from 4 studies.
From individual food items	3.39	0.52			Trophic level estimated from a number of food items using a randomized resampling routine.
Ref.	Bowman, R.E., C.E. Stillwell, W.L. Michaels and M.D. Grosslein, 2000

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