I’ve been censusing tidepool sculpins almost continuously for almost 3 decades on Tatoosh Island.
Long-term data on the dynamics of nearshore fish recruitment and adult abundance reveal that the dominant species as a recruit (Clinocottus globiceps) is always replaced numerically as an adult by Oligocottus maculosus. Based on previous experimental work demonstrating the competitive dominance of O. maculosus (Pfister 1995) and the presence of density-dependence, post-recruitment processes appear to play a very important role (Pfister 2006).
A competition-colonization trade-off among the two dominant species is suggested and may contribute to the coexistence of these species. Colonization differences in the two species may be driven by the interplay between where larvae are located in the water column and the effects of oceanographic events such as the spring transition (Shanks & Pfister 2009).
