ZeroMQ

Colophon

The animal on the cover of ZeroMQ is the fourhorn sculpin (Myoxocephalus quadricornis). The fourhorn sculpin is mostly found in arctic coastal waters around North America and northern Eurasia, but it can also be found in some freshwater lakes in Europe. This fish is named for its four bony protuberances on its head.

The fourhorn sculpin has a dark and slightly flattened body with eyes close to the top of its heads, a large pelvis, and a distinctive large mouth. It usually reaches about 30 cm in length. One way to distinguish between males and females of this species is that males have a yellowish brown belly and females have a white belly. This fish mostly feeds on organisms at the bottom of the sea, crustaceans, and fish eggs.

The fourhorn sculpin reproduces in the winter. During this time males will typically dig a pit that females will put all their eggs into. Once eggs are laid into a pit, males will guard the eggs during the three month incubation period.

The cover image is from Johnson’s Natural History. The cover font is Adobe ITC Garamond. The text font is Adobe Minion Pro; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; and the code font is Dalton Maag’s Ubuntu Mono.