Deepwater Sculpin

The deepwater sculpin (Myoxocephalus thompsonii) is a freshwater sculpin that inhabits the bottoms of cold, deep freshwater lakes of northern North America. Its distribution ranges from the Great Bear Lake of Canada to the Great Lakes. It is a designated at-risk fish species in Canada, protected as a species of Special Concern under Canada's Species at Risk Act.

The deepwater sculpin is generally gray-brown with mottling on its head, back, and sides with a whitish underside. When full-grown, they are usually between 4 and 6 inches (10–15 cm), but they can reach to 9 inches (23 cm). They weigh less than an ounce (<25 g). They are a bottom-feeding species, which makes them vulnerable to a build-up in contaminants in polluted lakes. They were considered extinct in Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, but have recently been rediscovered there. They mostly eat tiny crustaceans and aquatic insects and are eaten by lake trout and other predatory fish.