''Batrachocottus'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial n ...

of freshawater

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or h ...

es belonging to the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Cottidae The Cottidae are a family of fish in the superfamily Cottoidea, the sculpins. It is the largest sculpin family, with about 275 species in 70 genera.Kane, E. A. and T. E. Higham. (2012)Life in the flow lane: differences in pectoral fin morphology ...

, the typical sculpins. These fishes are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found els ...

to the

Lake Baikal Lake Baikal (, russian: Oзеро Байкал, Ozero Baykal ); mn, Байгал нуур, Baigal nuur) is a rift lake in Russia. It is situated in southern Siberia, between the Federal subjects of Russia, federal subjects of Irkutsk Oblast, I ...

watershed in

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

Taxonomy

''Batrachocottus'' was first proposed as a

monospecific genus In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

in 1903 by the Russian

ichthyologist Ichthyology is the branch of zoology devoted to the study of fish, including bony fish (Osteichthyes), cartilaginous fish (Chondrichthyes), and jawless fish (Agnatha). According to FishBase, 33,400 species of fish had been described as of October ...

Lev Berg Lev Semyonovich Berg, also known as Leo S. Berg (russian: Лев Семёнович Берг; 14 March 1876 – 24 December 1950) was a leading Russian geographer, biologist and ichthyologist who served as President of the Soviet Geographical So ...

with ''Cottus baicalensis'' as its

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen( ...

. This genus was not mentioned by the 5th edition of ''

Fishes of the World ''Fishes of the World'' by the American Ichthyology, ichthyologist Joseph S. Nelson (1937–2011) is a standard reference for fish systematics. Now in its fifth edition (2016), the work is a comprehensive overview of the diversity and classificat ...

'' and has been placed in the family Cottidae by some authorities. and in the subfamily

Abyssocottinae The Abyssocottinae are a subfamily of ray-finned fishes in the family 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 endemic to Lake Ba ...

by others. However, other authorities have used

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

studies which have found that Baikal sculpins that were classified in the subfamilies Comephorinae and

by ''Fishes of the World'' radiated from an ancestor which was likely to be within the genus '' Cottus'' and that the classification of the Baikal sculpins in a different taxon from ''Cottus'' was

paraphyletic In taxonomy (general), taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few Monophyly, monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be pa ...

Species

There are currently four recognized species in this genus: * ''

Batrachocottus baicalensis The bighead sculpin (''Batrachocottus baicalensis'') is a species of sculpin fish that is endemic to the Lake Baikal watershed in Siberia, Russia. It typically lives on rocky bottoms, often in places with Baikal sponge, sponges, at depths of , but ...

'' ( Dybowski, 1874) (Bighead sculpin) * ''

Batrachocottus multiradiatus ''Batrachocottus'' is a genus of freshawater ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Cottidae, the typical sculpins. These fishes are endemic to the Lake Baikal watershed in Russia. Taxonomy ''Batrachocottus'' was first proposed as a monospeci ...

L. S. Berg Lev Semyonovich Berg, also known as Leo S. Berg (russian: Лев Семёнович Берг; 14 March 1876 – 24 December 1950) was a leading Russian geographer, biologist and ichthyologist who served as President of the Soviet Geographical S ...

, 1907 * ''

Batrachocottus nikolskii ''Batrachocottus'' is a genus of freshawater ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Cottidae, the typical sculpins. These fishes are endemic to the Lake Baikal watershed in Russia. Taxonomy ''Batrachocottus'' was first proposed as a monospeci ...

'' (L. S. Berg, 1900) (Fat sculpin) * ''

Batrachocottus talievi ''Batrachocottus'' is a genus of freshawater ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Cottidae, the typical sculpins. These fishes are endemic to the Lake Baikal watershed in Russia. Taxonomy ''Batrachocottus'' was first proposed as a monospeci ...

'' Sideleva, 1999

References

Cottidae Fish of Russia Fish of Lake Baikal {{Scorpaeniformes-stub