ray-finned fish
Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fish or actinopterygians, is a class of bony fish that comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. They are so called because of their lightly built fins made of webbings of sk ...
belonging to the
family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
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. This species is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found only 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 foun ...
to Russia where it is found along the continental coasts of the
Sea of Japan
The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it ...
but not on the coasts of
Peter the Great Bay
The Peter the Great Gulf (Russian: Залив Петра Великого) is a gulf on the southern coast of Primorsky Krai, Russia, and the largest gulf of the Sea of Japan. The gulf extends for from the Russian–North Korean border, at the ...
. It reaches a maximum length of . It was previously considered a subspecies of the
alpine bullhead
The alpine bullhead or Siberian bullhead (''Cottus poecilopus'') is a species of freshwater fish in the family Cottidae of sculpins. It is found in China, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, North Korea, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Romani ...
. (''Cottus poecilopus'') and this species was first formally described in 1933 by the Russian ichthyologist
Anatoly Yakovlevich Taranetz
Anatoly Yakovlevich Taranetz (3 July 1910 – 10 December 1941) was a Soviet Russian Ichthyology, ichthyologist, notable for his contribution to the study of ichthyofauna of the North Pacific and Far Eastern seas of Russia.
Notable dates
* Sprin ...
as ''Cottus poecilopus volki'' with its type locality given as the
Suchan River
The Partizanskaya (, formerly Сучан ''Suchan'')Takema River on western coast of the Sea of Japan in
Primorye
Primorsky Krai, informally known as Primorye, is a federal subject (a krai) of Russia, part of the Far Eastern Federal District in the Russian Far East. The city of Vladivostok on the southern coast of the krai is its administrative center, an ...
.
Etymology
Taranetz did not identify the person honoured in the
specific name Specific name may refer to:
* in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database
In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules:
* Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...
but it is thought most likely to be his friend
Alexander Maksimovich Volk
Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here are A ...
, like Taranetz, Volk was killed in action during
World War 2
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated, with many nations mobilisin ...