Hood Canal - Dead Fish

[Orion DM]

Hi,

Apologies in advance if there are threads dedicated to this, my search turned up nothing.

I just went diving in hood canal (Sund rock) last week and during one dive saw between 10-15 dead fish on the bottom throughout the dive site. They were about 10 inches long (To my underwater eyes), had big fat heads (Knd of reminded me of Cabazon), with a body that tapered down really fast - I think they were kind a silver color.

So my questions are:
1. Does anyone know why these fish were dead?
2. Can anyone identify the fish from my description? I haven't been diving around here long enough to be an expert on local fish species..

Thanks :10:

 

[dilligaf368]

I believe that they are what we call the "Bullhead". At least that is what we called them when we fished the bottoms.
I looked it up in a book:Whelks to whales by Rick Harbo. You will find a copy at Your local dive center. I got mine from Bubbles Below, in Woodinville Wa. They also offer a Top Notched Marine Identification Class by Laurel. It covers just about everything in the Puget Sound and Canada.
The "Bullhead" is really called a Great Sculpin. it grows to 30" from the Bering Sea to Washington. In the Rocks and sandy bottoms. Brod Body, long snout and reddish-orange eyes in adults. Slow to move. I forgot to add the Head is very large and makes up the majority of the body. Don't bother to eat them.
I heard that Hoods Canal is lacking O2 from time to time. Thereby killing lots of fish, and much to the demise of the local fishermen the Salmon too. B-

 

[Orion DM]

I believe that they are what we call the "Bullhead". At least that is what we called them when we fished the bottoms.
I looked it up in a book:Whelks to whales by Rick Harbo. You will find a copy at Your local dive center. I got mine from Bubbles Below, in Woodinville Wa. They also offer a Top Notched Marine Identification Class by Laurel. It covers just about everything in the Puget Sound and Canada.
The "Bullhead" is really called a Great Sculpin. it grows to 30" from the Bering Sea to Washington. In the Rocks and sandy bottoms. Brod Body, long snout and reddish-orange eyes in adults. Slow to move. I forgot to add the Head is very large and makes up the majority of the body. Don't bother to eat them.
I heard that Hoods Canal is lacking O2 from time to time. Thereby killing lots of fish, and much to the demise of the local fishermen the Salmon too. B-

Could be, I looked those up online and the photos didn't look quite right, the coloring on the ones I saw was more silver/gray, although I don't know how long they had been dead so..... They looked pretty much like these in color: http://hmsc.oregonstate.edu/projects/msap/PS/masterlist/fish/pacificstaghorsculpin.html
But the shape looked just like this picture: http://students.washington.edu/tejewell/fishes/myoxpoly.html
I am not 100% sure, but I think those are them.
Thanks for pointing me in the direction of the right ID, I would never have gotten anywhere without your pointers.

 

[JasonH20]

Could be, I looked those up online and the photos didn't look quite right, the coloring on the ones I saw was more silver/gray, although I don't know how long they had been dead so..... They looked pretty much like these in color: http://hmsc.oregonstate.edu/projects/msap/PS/masterlist/fish/pacificstaghorsculpin.html
But the shape looked just like this picture: http://students.washington.edu/tejewell/fishes/myoxpoly.html
I am not 100% sure, but I think those are them.
Thanks for pointing me in the direction of the right ID, I would never have gotten anywhere without your pointers.

Wouldn't the color change a bit as the fish started to... decompose?

 

[Scubagalpnw]

Sounds like "bullhead" or "buffalo" sculpin. Actually great sculpin are in the same family but entirely different (much larger and different coloration). Buffalo sculpin tend to sit very still on the bottom and stand their ground and my not even be dead at all. Often times won't move until bumped or touched in some way.

Recently the Hood Canal has had issues with the oxygen levels in the water so if you did see some dead fish that could be the cause. I'd hate to hear that there are problems with that again this year!!!!

 

[dilligaf368]

Scubagalpnw, I saw the buffalo Sculpin in the book but because of the colors I thought it might be the Great Sculpin. The reason I don't believe that the fish Orion DM saw were not the Buffalo Sculpin is because of the mottled colors. He said that they were silver. The size in length seams right. Suffice it to say it is a Sculpin.....Bullhead.
If there were fishermen at the beach in the past few days, maybe they threw them back after catching them....Just a thought. B-

 

[Orion DM]

Wouldn't the color change a bit as the fish started to... decompose?

I thought of that too, but they really looked like that was their natural color.

Sounds like "bullhead" or "buffalo" sculpin. Actually great sculpin are in the same family but entirely different (much larger and different coloration). Buffalo sculpin tend to sit very still on the bottom and stand their ground and my not even be dead at all. Often times won't move until bumped or touched in some way.
Recently the Hood Canal has had issues with the oxygen levels in the water so if you did see some dead fish that could be the cause. I'd hate to hear that there are problems with that again this year!!!!

It is possible, but I am pretty sure they were dead, many of them were laying upside down. I certainly didn't try poking any of them, not my style.

Scubagalpnw, I saw the buffalo Sculpin in the book but because of the colors I thought it might be the Great Sculpin. The reason I don't believe that the fish Orion DM saw were not the Buffalo Sculpin is because of the mottled colors. He said that they were silver. The size in length seams right. Suffice it to say it is a Sculpin.....Bullhead.
If there were fishermen at the beach in the past few days, maybe they threw them back after catching them....Just a thought. B-

SHE actually .... not that it matters

Isn't Sund rock a nature preserve? I am pretty sure there was a sign to that effect.... so that would mean fishing is out?