Norway bullhead
Encyclopedia
The Norway bullhead is a coast
Coast
A coastline or seashore is the area where land meets the sea or ocean. A precise line that can be called a coastline cannot be determined due to the dynamic nature of tides. The term "coastal zone" can be used instead, which is a spatial zone where interaction of the sea and land processes occurs...

al fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...

 of the family Cottidae
Cottidae
The Cottidae is a family of demersal fish in the order Scorpaeniformes, suborder Cottoidei . There are about 300 species in 70 genera of Cottidae that are mostly marine and found in shallow coastal waters in the northern and arctic regions...

, found in Northern Europe
Northern Europe
Northern Europe is the northern part or region of Europe. Northern Europe typically refers to the seven countries in the northern part of the European subcontinent which includes Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Finland and Sweden...

.

Description

The Norway bullhead is a small fish that only grows to 7.4 cm in length. It has a row of bony knobs above the rough lateral line
Lateral line
The lateral line is a sense organ in aquatic organisms , used to detect movement and vibration in the surrounding water. Lateral lines are usually visible as faint lines running lengthwise down each side, from the vicinity of the gill covers to the base of the tail...

.

It feeds on small crustaceans (amphipods, decapods) and fishes. It spawns in early spring, laying demersal eggs, in clumps on bottom, diameter 2 mm. Larvae are pelagic. A population of Norway bullhead is capable of doubling its numbers in under 15 months.

Habitat

It is found on hard sea bottom
Benthos
Benthos is the community of organisms which live on, in, or near the seabed, also known as the benthic zone. This community lives in or near marine sedimentary environments, from tidal pools along the foreshore, out to the continental shelf, and then down to the abyssal depths.Many organisms...

s (gravel or shells) or among seaweeds, in cold areas – even with temperatures below 0°C. It feeds on small fish, amphipods and other crustacean
Crustacean
Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...

s.
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