The Abyssocottinae are a subfamily of ray-finned fishes in the family Sculpin, Cottidae, the sculpins. They are known commonly as the deep-water sculpins.
[Froese, R. and D. Pauly. (Eds.]
Abyssocottidae.
FishBase. 2011. The entire family is endemism, endemic to Lake Baikal in Siberia.
[Hunt, D. M., et al. (1997)]
Molecular evolution of the cottoid fish endemic to Lake Baikal deduced from nuclear DNA evidence.
''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' 8(3), 415–22.
Sculpins of this subfamily mostly live in deep water, below .
[ There are 24 known species in seven genera.][ These include, for instance, ''Abyssocottus korotneffi'' and ''Cottinella boulengeri'' which are among the deepest-living freshwater fish. Baikal is the deepest lake on Earth () and sculpins occupy even its greatest depths.][
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Evolution and systematics
Molecular studies based on mitochondrial DNA suggest that the Abyssocottinae along with other Lake Baikal cottoid fishes, now attributed to the likewise endemic Cottocomephorinae (Baikal sculpins) and Comephorinae (Baikal oilfish), together make a monophyletic group that has originated and adaptive radiation, diversified within the lake relative recently, since the Pliocene. The ancestors of this species flock comprising more than 30 species belonged to the widespread freshwater sculpin genus ''Cottus (fish), Cottus'' (in Cottidae). The Abyssocottidae itself appears as a natural group within this radiation, except that also the genus ''Batrachocottus'' should be included.[Tytti Kontula, Sergei V. Kirilchik, Risto Väinölä (2003]
Endemic diversification of the monophyletic cottoid fish species flock in Lake Baikal explored with mtDNA sequencing
''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' 27, 1, 143–155.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1789959
Abyssocottidae,
Fish of Russia
Cottoidea