Fourhorn Poacher: Hypsagonus quadricornis (Valenciennes, 1829)
First Arctic Ocean record in 2007: the eastern Chukchi Sea
Size
- Up to 120 mm total length
Color & Characteristics
- Reddish brown to tan with white, yellow, red, or brown bands and blotches; broad dark band on caudal fin
- Body profile high at nape
- Long barbel at tip of snout
- Fewer than 15 lateral line plates
- First dorsal fin starts at nape
- Rays of pectoral and anal fins largely free of membrane, thickened and fingerlike
- Fish walks, rather than swims, using its pectoral, anal and caudal fins
- Often covered with hydroids and algae
Distribution & Habitat
- Boreal Pacific species
- Rare in northern Bering Sea and Chukchi Sea
- Benthic, from shallow water, including tidepools, to depth of 452 m, typically at less than 300m
- Prefers rocky gravel and mixed sand and gravel substrate, not as often found on silt
Feeding
- Uses its fingerlike fin rays to dislodge and lift small rocks, shells, and other items when foraging for food
- Eats gammarid amphipods and polychaetes
Life cycle
- Adhesive eggs are deposited on the seafloor
- Larvae are pelagic
- Mature by about 3 years of age or 6–8 cm in length
- Live at least 7 years
Page Author: CW Mecklenburg & TA Mecklenburg
Updated: March 5, 2011
