are commonly found near the shore, particularly in bays and estuaries; most often on sandy substrates. As adults they are found in sheltered marine estuaries while the juveniles are found in freshwater streams and upper estuarine environments. Biology The Pacific staghorn sculpin is a largely marine fish which spends the majority of its life in saline and brackish waters but they can adapt to both fresh and hypers saline waters. The larval stage srtarts in estuarine environments, being found over soft and sandy substrates. The juveniles leave the estuary, many ascending the rivers into fresh water and most of the fish recorded in freshwater or less saline habitats are young juveniles. These feed on amphipods, invertebrates, small fish, and aquatic insect larvae. The older fishes tend to be found further upstream than the young fish which move into the rivers from marine or estuary environments. Fish living in the sea may move in and out with the tide and prey on crabs, shrimp and other fish. Feeding is mainly nocturnal but they will forage at any time of the day. Spawning takes place in salt or brackish water between October and April, although in California they spawn in January and February. Each female lays between 2 and 10 thousand eggs and follwoing spawning adults rapidly leave for deeper waters. The eggs take 10 days to hatch into larvae. They can breathe air when out of the water. They will bury themselves in sandy substrates. References Bibliography Peter B. Moyle, Inland Fishes of California (University of California Press, 2002), pp. 361–363 Cottinae Taxa named by Charles Frédéric Girard Fish described in 1854