Nathan Lujan, Museum Royal Ontario
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X-ray image of a deep sea sculpin fish. This world of minnows has adapted to life in Canada’s deepest and coldest lakes.
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Nationalgeographic.co.id—Sculpin the deep sea not an attractive fish by conventional animal standards. You won’t find him hanging on a placard or even getting a lead role in a Disney movie.
Sculpin is a type of fish that belongs to the superfamily Cottoidea in the order Scorpaeniformes. As of 2006, this superfamily consists of 11 families, 149 genera and 756 species. Sculpins are found in many types of habitats, including marine zones and freshwater.
The interesting thing about this one fish is that it survived. This fish has managed to survive on the bottom of the deepest and coldest lake in Canada since the last ice age.
Researchers at U of T Scarborough are currently sequencing its entire genome. They find out how these fish are able to adapt to such an extreme environment.
“This is a Canadian icon who survived,” said Nathan Lovejoy, a professor in the department of biology who conducted genetic research on sculpin. “Here you have a small, simple fish that is able to survive in this very difficult habitat – and we don’t know much about it. Especially how it has adapted over time.”
Deep sea sculpins live almost exclusively in lakes over 35 meters deep and temperatures cooler than 8 degrees C. Their range extends from the Laurentian Great Lakes and Gatineau region in northwestern Quebec through the deepest lakes in Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. In fact, as far as the Great Slave and Great Bear Lake in the Northwest Territories.
Physically it is relatively long and flat, with two small black eyes sitting on the top of its head. The adult size looks small, usually between 10-15 cm and weighing less than 25 g. Despite its unusual appearance, it plays an important role in the Great Lakes food chain. He associated the small crustaceans and aquatic insects they eat with lake trout and larger predatory fish that prey on sculpins.
At the same time, Lovejoy says because he lives at such great depths, he remains a fish that has not been studied much. Thus, relatively little is known about its biology and genetics.
Brian Weidel, U.S. Geological Survey
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Relatively little is known about the deep sea sculpin fish, as it lives at great depths.
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Its closest relatives are Arctic marine fish found in shallow waters called fourhorn sculpin (four-horned sculpin). Lovejoy said that the deep-sea sculpin likely originated when the four-horned sculpin of its ancestors was dragged into continental freshwater habitats by advancing glaciers. Over time they gradually adapt to these freshwater conditions.
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