bullhead?

I fish alot and I have caught them in FW, BW, and SW. We call them bullheads or sculpins. They're a nasty scaleless fish with little "horns" that come off the back of their head when they feel they are in danger. I think their slime might be venemous too, cause it always feels really wierd when I touch them. And watch out for those "horns" they will slice through skin easily.

The ones I catch look more like the 1 on the right in your first post.

The horns are barbed, they look just like the end of a fish hook, only there are 2 or 3 barbs. The ends of them are not that sharp it the barbs you want to watch out for. I don't know if all species have them but all of the ones I have caught have them. On a 6 inch fish they are about an inch long.

You think they are cute?? I hate those things! Of course that's probably because I try fishing for other fish and the bullheads always take my bait. Usually by the time I catch anything meaningful I have already wasted about 10 bucks worth of bait on stupid little things. :rant2: :rant2:

those certainly are sculpins. I've always called "bullheads" those big ol' catfish.

I personally LOVE sculpins because I catch them by hand while tidepooling. But I can definitely see how they'd be a pain when line-fishing.

But they're awesome fish. Some are beautiful, others make cute sounds, all are hardy and fun! They can survive AMAZING swings in temperature and salinity, due to an adaptation for life in tidepools and other shallow water.