THE SCULPIN FAMILY Cottidae
SLIMY SCULPIN Cottus cognatus Richardson, 1836
DISTRIBUTION AND ABUNDANCE: Native. Slimy sculpin are common and
widely distributed in suitable habitats west of the Connecticut
River. East of the Connecticut River there are small,
geographically isolated populations in the Millers, Chicopee, and
Nashua river basins. In 1861, specimens were taken from the lower
Merrimack, near Lawrence but this population has apparently been
extirpated since the species was last reported from the lower
Merrimack drainage in 1953. The continued presence of slimy
sculpins in eastern Massachusetts depends on the protection of
hillstream habitat from changes due to land use and development.
In addition, changes in water quality, probably due to acid rain,
have impacted a number of slimy sculpin populations in tributaries
to the Quabbin Reservoir in north-central Massachusetts.
from: An Annotated Working List of the Inland Fishes of
Massachusetts. © 1996. K.E. Hartel (hartel@mcz.harvard.edu),
D.B. Halliwell (arcsys@mint.net) and A.E. Launer (aelauner@leland.stanford.edu).