FREEMAN ET AL.: LIFE HISTORY OF FLUFFY SCULPIN 



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Figure 3.— Sex-specific ontogenetic and among year variation in Oligocottus snyderi feeding habits during the 1979, 1980, and 1981 Upwell- 

 ing periods. Prey are represented as percent total prey weight, and only prey composing >1% of the total prey weight are shown. Asterisks 

 indicate prey which occurred in only one individual. Prey abbreviations are G (gammarids); PR (hard-bodied prey remains); Po (polychaetes); 

 Is (isopods); S (shrimps, all spp.); Ca (caprellids); Sn (snails); Id (Idotea spp.); Pa (Pagurus spp.); Cr (crabs, all spp.); Al (algae); and BC 

 (barnacle cirri). 



suggests that males and females have about equal 

 lifespans at Dillon Beach. 



Oligocottus maculosus Girard, another abundant 

 intertidal cottid (Nakamura 1976a, b; Moring 1981), 

 was estimated by Chadwick (1976) to survive as 

 many as five growing seasons, based on counts of 

 vertebral rings, at Port Renfrew, B.C., and Bruels 

 Point, CA. Annuli were not validated in this study, 

 however, and it is questionable if the rings observed 

 were actually formed once yearly. In addition, Chad- 

 wick's (1976) growth rate estimates are extremely 

 low, suggesting that 0. maculosiis grew no more than 

 7 mm in any season after the first. Moreover, all 

 previous studies of both 0. snyderi (Moring 1981) 

 and 0. maculosus (Atkinson 1939; Green 1971; Mor- 

 ing 1979) showed that populations of these species 

 were composed primarily of age 0-t- and l-i- in- 

 dividuals, as was 0. snyderi at Dillon Beach. Conse- 

 quently, it appears unlikely that 0. maculosus sur- 

 vives to age 5-f as suggested by Chadwick (1976), 



and in any case such longevity was not observed for 

 0. snyderi at Dillon Beach. 



Intertidal fishes appear to display several distinct 

 life history patterns. Short lifespan (1-3 yr), early 

 maturation, and high reproductive effort have been 

 reported for several intertidal gobies in northern 

 temperate habitats (Gibson 1969, 1982; Grossman 

 1979; Miller 1979). In contrast, lifespans of 4 to over 

 10 yr, accompanied by delayed maturation, have been 

 observed in many intertidal species, including gobiids 

 and blenniids (Gibson 1969, 1982; Stephens et al. 

 1970; Grossman 1979; Miller 1979). Little informa- 

 tion is available for intertidal cottids. The largest 

 North American cottid, Scorpaenichthys mar- 

 moratus Ayers, may live 13 yr, but only inhabits tide- 

 pools during its first or second year of life (O'Con- 

 nell 1953; Grossman and Freeman unpubl. data). 

 Another large sculpin, Leptocottus armatvs Girard, 

 common in the Pacific coast bays and estuaries, is 

 known to live to age 3 and reaches sexual maturity 



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