Abstract
Disappearance of the deepwater sculpin (Myoxocephalus thompsoni) from Lake Ontario during the early 1950s is unexplained. I suggest that a contributing factor to this local extinction may have been increased competition with or predation on younger deepwater sculpin lifestages by the sympatric slimy sculpin (Cottus cognatus) that was precipitated by the loss of piscivores from the lake. Habitat and diet of adult slimy sculpins and young deepwater sculpins overlap in the Great Lakes and both species were heavily preyed upon by the lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) and burbot ( Lota lota) in Lake Ontario. It is hypothesized that predation on sculpins may have prevented either species from monopolizing the benthic offshore regions of Lake Ontario.
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