The Systematics of the Prickly Sculpin, Cottus asper Richardson, 
a Polytypic Species 
Part I. Synonymy, Nomenclatural History, and Distribution 1 
Richard J. Krejsa 2 
ABSTRACT: The prickly sculpin, Cottus asper, is a geographically widespread, 
polytypic species characteristically represented by very prickly, nonmigratory, fresh- 
water spawning "inland” forms, and less prickly, catadromous, brackish-water 
spawning "coastal” forms. Part I, the first contribution in a series on the systematics 
of this species, presents a synonymy complete for the period 1836-1936, with a 
resume of the most important citations from 1936 to 1965. A nomenclatural history 
of the species is given. The distributional range is listed and also presented in 
illustration. 
The prickly sculpin ranges over about 3,000 
miles of Pacific North Temperate coastline and 
inland as far as 300 miles. The species exists 
in two primary modes of morphological vari- 
ability: one, a nonmigratory, fresh-water 
spawner, has extensive squamation on certain 
regions of the body; the other, a catadromous, 
brackish-water spawner, has little or none. 
Prickly sculpin eggs are spawned naturally in 
environments which are known to vary in at 
least one major factor, i.e., salinity. The mor- 
phological, behavioral, and ecological varia- 
tions existing within this species make it an 
excellent subject for systematic analysis. 
SYNONYMY 
It has been 130 years since Cottus asper was 
first described by Sir John Richardson. Prior 
to the present study, regional systematic treat- 
ments of this widespread species resulted in a 
proliferation of generic and specific taxa, all 
referable to C. asper. Early revisionary work by 
Girard in 1851 and 1852 was incomplete 
because of lack of specimens. Recent regional 
1 The data for this paper are taken from a thesis 
submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements 
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the Uni- 
versity of British Columbia. Manuscript received 
March 23, 1966. 
2 Institute of Fisheries, University of British 
Columbia, Vancouver, Canada. Present address: De- 
partment of Anatomy, College of Physicians and Sur- 
geons, Columbia University, New York. 
works (Robins and Miller, 1957; McAllister, 
1957; McAllister and Lindsey, 1959; and Bond, 
1963) have included the species as part of a 
geographical area or river drainage system, but 
there has never been a comprehensive treatment 
of the species throughout its entire range. In 
the period 1836-1936, 41 reports of C. asper 
were cited in the literature. In the same period, 
32 additional citations occurred which were 
either misidentifications or synonyms properly 
referable to C. asper. In none of the systematic 
treatments published since the original descrip- 
tion in 1836 has there been a synonymy con- 
taining more than 7 citations. McAllister 
(1957) listed 15 citations in his unpublished 
M.A. thesis. 
The present synonymy consists of 73 citations 
published during the period 1836-1936, and is 
thought to be complete for that period. In the 
past 30 years, the species has been cited in- 
cidentally in so many fishery journals and 
publications that only the major systematic, or 
otherwise noteworthy, citations have been re- 
ported in the remaining synonymy. 
Cottus asper Richardson, 1836 
Cottus asper. Richardson, 1836:295, pi. 95, 
fig. 1 (original description and figure; Colum- 
bia R. ; collected by Dr. Gairdner, probably 
near Fort Vancouver, Washington Territory). 
Storer, 1846^:260, and 1846^:8 (northwestern 
coast of N. America). Girard, 1850:409, and 
1851^:189 (discusses propriety of present 
241 
