Small freshwater predator settles in at the Aquarium
Three Amur sculpins (Mesocottus haitej) have been added to the Rivers and Lakes exhibit. The sculpins share the tank with perches and albino sterlets who at first were obviously alarmed by the presence of newcomers. But their worry was for nothing: though predators, Amur sculpins are of miniature size – the body length of an adult individual does not exceed 20 cm – and the neighbours are too large to become their dinner.
In the wild Amur sculpins feed on maggots, tiny crustaceans, fish fry and small-sized fishes such as minnows, bitterlings and gudgeons. At the same time, the species serves as prey for larger predators: the lenok trout, the pike, the taimen, and some others.
“At the Aquarium the new settlers’ diet includes both live food - juvenile minnows - and sliced salmon,” said Evgeniy Kozhukhov, Principal Specialist at the Department of the Russian Far East Freshwater Organisms.
The Amur sculpin is a bottom dweller that likes to hide under rocks. In Russia it is found in the basins of the Amur and Ussuri Rivers. The species also occurs in rivers of North Korea, China and Mongolia.