Morphological analysis uncovers evidence of hybridization in Lake Ontario sculpin populations, suggesting interspecific backcrossing obscures species boundaries.
The sculpins Cottus bairdi and C. cognatus are difficult to distinguish in Lake Ontario because intermediate specimens are present and because C. bairdi in the lake is more variable than C. bairdi from the surrounding drainage basin. Our evidence indicates that intermediates are probably the products of hybridization between C. bairdi and C. cognatus. The greater variability of C. bairdi in Lake Ontario may be due to subspecies differences, but we suggest that backcrossing of C. bairdi with hybrids would also account for this phenomenon.
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Godkin et al. (1982) studied this question.
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