Fourhorn sculpin COSEWIC assessment and status report: chapter 4

Distribution

Global range

The freshwater fourhorn sculpin is found as landlocked relicts in deep, cold lakes in North America and Northern Europe, particularly Canada, United States, Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Russia (McAllister 1980; Hammar et al. 1996). Delling (1994) reported that the relict fourhorn sculpin inhabited at least 22 lakes in southern and central Sweden. It resides in the lakes of Vättern, Wättern, Fryken, Siljan, Orsasjön, and Mälaren in Sweden and Ladoga and Onega in Russia (Jääskeläinen 1917; Nyman and Westin 1968; Muus et al. 1999). Museum records (Canadian Museum of Nature; Appendix I) indicate the presence of individuals in Swan Lake, Baldwin Peninsula, Alaska.

Canadian range

In Canada, the freshwater fourhorn sculpin is resident in the Northwest and Nunavut Territories (Figure 2). The only province where it has been collected is Newfoundland and Labrador, and this consisted of one specimen collected at Lake Sipukat in 1964 by John G. Hunter (Appendix I; identification confirmed 02/28/03).

Figure 2. North American distribution of the freshwater fourhorn sculpin, Myoxocephalus quadricornis. Map was compiled using museum collection data from the Canadian Museum of Nature (see Appendix I).

Figure 2. North American distribution of the freshwater fourhorn sculpin, Myoxocephalus quadricornis. Map was compiled using museum collection data from theCanadianMuseumof Nature (see Appendix I).

Johnson (1964) reported the presence of M. quadricornis in three lakes on Victoria Island, NU, while museum records (Appendix I) indicate it is present in the Zeta, Ferguson, Longspur, Washburn, Tassijuak, and Surrey lakes on that island. Ellesmere Island is reported as having fourhorn populations in Lake Tuborg and Romulus Lake. The species has also been collected from lakes on the islands of Cornwallis (Eleanor Lake, Sophia Lake), Little Cornwallis (Garrow Lake), Bathurst, Melville, Somerset (Stanwell-Fletcher Lake), Hepburn (Wentzel Lake), and Campbell (Eskimo Lakes) (Appendix I). Freshwater populations are not limited to island lakes as fourhorn sculpins have been collected from Nauyak Lake on the Kent Peninsula, NU. It has not been reported from lakes in National Parks of the Canadian Arctic (McDonald, pers. comm., 2002).

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