![Image](http://spatman.com/diving/gallery/3tree1/large/IMG_4182.jpg)
great sculpin?
![Image](http://spatman.com/diving/gallery/3tree1/large/IMG_4193.jpg)
longfin sculpin?
![Image](http://spatman.com/diving/gallery/3tree1/large/IMG_4127cu.jpg)
nwscubamom wrote:Buffalo - yup!
Great - yup!
But hmmm....last one is an Artedius of SOME sort...it's tough to tell just from one pic from that one angle. Believe it or not, I've spent some of my day today pondering these pesky buggers in my own photos....
Remember how I said that the Scalyhead has that white dot at the base of the tail? Well guess what? So does another Artedius - the Smoothhead Sculpin. So the white dot DOES indeed help narrow things down, but it's not the end-all ID feature I'd hoped for. Drats.
There are THREE Artedius genus sculpins that look oh-so-similar. Smoothhead, Scalyhead and Padded.
So....I'm just not sure! But I'm leaning more towards the Smoothhead because the shape of the head just doesn't seem exactly right for the Scalyhead, and there is a definite absence of any cirri on it's head.
What's funny is another guy (Rich Z) sent me a photo today through email of this EXACT fish - same weird band across the head with the little teeny dot too. And I didn't think that one was a Scalyhead either....
Pesky rotten good-for-nothing sculpins....when I get these figured out, I'll be a happy fish-geek!
- Janna