First Birthday for our Pacific Spiny Lumpsuckers
Bringing Lumpsuckers to Feiro – 2025
It had been a decade since Pacific Spiny Lumpsuckers had been seen in Feiro exhibits. Luckily, in January of 2025 Feiro was able to partner with MaST Center in Des Moines, Wa for a Beach Seine near their center which resulted is several Adult Lumpsuckers. Quickly, these little swimming puff balls became favorites amongst visitors, volunteers and staff. Then excitement, one of the male Lumpsuckers was nesting in an empty barnacle shell – and he was caring for bright orange eggs.
There are some subtle ways to tell males and females apart, but what really helps is their behavior around mating time. The Males locate nesting spots- this could be empty barnacle shells, empty snail shells, or just a nice sheltered rock area. Females lay their bright colored eggs at the nesting site they find appealing and then continue to swim around. Meanwhile, the male is on egg guard duty. He keeps them safe from predation and continues to fan water over them so that they can remain clean and well-oxygenated.
About a month and a half after spotting one of our males guarding eggs, the eggs hatched out tiny little fish – already born with a small suction cup that allowed the little things to attach to the sides of the exhibit and on the various rocks.
Babies at Feiro
Those orange eggs hatched out to over 200 babies. Some hatched out May 1st and the rest followed on May 11th. The babies basically looked like a large head with a little tail (seen in picture with finger for size reference). They were immediately good eaters, feasting on baby brine shrimp that are hatched here at Feiro.
At 1 month of age, the babies began to develop little fins and a thicker tail. Their dorsal fins popped high giving them a little mohawk looks. They would continue to grow and look more and more like little lumpsuckers.
During these growing months, tragedy would strike. One of the negative sides of having an Open Flow system is sometimes things clog the water and prevent the needed volume of water to flow in. This would happen in June preventing water flowing to the exhibit with the Adult Lumpsuckers and some of the babies holding tank. Due to their sensitivity to stress, we would lose all our adults and approx. 20 babies. Fortunately, we had moved some of the babies to a separate growing space which would not be as heavily impacted by the lower flow water.
The remaining babies would continue to grow and at 6 months they began to show various mottled coloration. Many of them would now be approx. 2 centimeters in length. They upgraded their diet to chopped up Mysis Shrimp and Brine Shrimp and continued to be eager eaters.
Growing up at Feiro
This 6-month milestone was huge. Some of the baby fish would move to new homes – Seattle Aquarium, Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium (in their Pacific Seas), and to the SEA Discovery Center in Poulsbo. Of course, we kept some for ourselves and watched them continue to grow. This month (May) we got to celebrate their 1st birthday!
Our 1 year olds spiney Lumpsucker are definitley favorites amongst Staff, Volunteers and Visitors. One is a bit of an attention hog, always swimming towards the window to be seen. One male is already looking for good nest spots, and one of the females has already laid eggs (though just in a random spot, not in a nest so no fertilization). Lumpsuckers grow up fast, as they have a fairly quick lifespan (only a few years). It is such a joy to watch you grow up.
Happy First Birthday little Lumpsuckers!
