A sculpin is a type of
fish
A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...
that belongs to the superfamily Cottoidea in the order
Perciformes
Perciformes (), also called the Acanthopteri, is an order or superorder of ray-finned fish in the clade Percomorpha. ''Perciformes'' means " perch-like". Among the well-known members of this group are perches and darters ( Percidae), and als ...
.
[Kane, E. A. and T. E. Higham. (2012)]
Life in the flow lane: differences in pectoral fin morphology suggest transitions in station-holding demand across species of marine sculpin.
''Zoology'' (Jena) 115(4), 223–32. As of 2006, this superfamily contains 7 families, 94 genera, and 387 species.
[
Sculpins occur in many types of habitat, including ]ocean
The ocean is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of Earth. The ocean is conventionally divided into large bodies of water, which are also referred to as ''oceans'' (the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Indian, Southern Ocean ...
and freshwater
Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include non-salty mi ...
zones. They live in rivers, submarine canyons, kelp forest
Kelp forests are underwater areas with a high density of kelp, which covers a large part of the world's coastlines. Smaller areas of anchored kelp are called kelp beds. They are recognized as one of the most productive and dynamic ecosystems on E ...
s, and shallow littoral habitat types, such as tidepools.
Families and subfamilies
Families include:Rhamphocottidae
Rhamphocottidae is a family of ray-finned fishes belonging to the superfamily Cottoidea, the sculpins. The species in this family occur in the North Pacific Ocean.
Taxonomy
Rhamphocottidae was first proposed as a family by the American icht ...
Jordan
Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...
& Gilbert, 1883
* Scorpaenichthyidae Jordan & Evermann, 1898
* Agonidae Swainson, 1839
** Hemilepidontinae Jordan & Evermann, 1898
** Hemitripterinae Gill
A gill () is a respiration organ, respiratory organ that many aquatic ecosystem, aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow r ...
, 1856
** Bothragoninae Lindberg, 1971
** Hypsagoninae
Hypsagoninae is a subfamily of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the Family (biology), family Agonidae, part of the sculpin Superfamily (biology), superfamily Cottoidea. These fishes are found in the North Pacific Ocean.
Taxonomy
Hypsagoninae ...
Gill, 1861
** Anoplagoninae Gill, 1861
** Brachyopsinae Jordan & Evermann, 1898
** Agoninae Swainson, 1839
** Bathyagoninae Lindberg, 1971
* Cottidae Bonaparte, 1831
** Cottinae
Cottinae is a subfamily of ray-finned fishes belonging to the Family (biology), family Cottidae, the typical sculpins. The subfamily has species throughout the northern hemisphere in both marine and freshwater habitats.
Genera
The following gener ...
Bonaparte, 1831
** Comephorinae Bonaparte 1850
** Abyssocottinae Berg, 1907
* Psychrolutidae Günther, 1861
** Cottunculinae Regan, 1913
** Psychrolutinae Günther, 1861
* Bathylutichthyidae Balushkin & Voskoboinikova, 1990
Gallery
Blue Ridge sculpin - Cottus caeruleomentum.jpg, '' Cottus caeruleomentum''
ObiAHset.jpg, '' Pseudoblennius zonostigma''
Sailfin sculpin (Nautichthys oculofasciatus).jpg, '' Nautichthys oculofasciatus''
Ambophthalmos angustus.jpg, '' Ambophthalmos angustus''
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q1136740
Cottoidei
Fish of Greenland