The Hemitripterinae is a

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

of the scorpaeniform

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 ...

Agonidae Agonidae is a family of small, bottom-dwelling, cold-water marine fish. Common names for members of this family include poachers, Irish lords, sea ravens, alligatorfishes, starsnouts, hooknoses, and rockheads. They are notable for having elongate ...

, known as sea ravens or sailfin sculpins. They are bottom-dwelling fish that feed on small

invertebrate Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordata, chordate s ...

s, found in the northwest

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

and north

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

Oceans. They are covered in small spines (modified scales).

Taxonomy

The sea raven subfamily Hemitripterinae, was first proposed as a taxonomic grouping in 1872 by the American

biologist A biologist is a scientist who conducts research in biology. Biologists are interested in studying life on Earth, whether it is an individual Cell (biology), cell, a multicellular organism, or a Community (ecology), community of Biological inter ...

Theodore Gill Theodore Nicholas Gill (March 21, 1837 – September 25, 1914) was an American ichthyologist, mammalogist, malacologist, and librarian. Career Born and educated in New York City under private tutors, Gill early showed interest in natural hist ...

. It has been treated as a family, the Hemitripteridae, within the

Cottoidea A sculpin is a type of fish that belongs to the superfamily Cottoidea in the order Perciformes.Kane, E. A. and T. E. Higham. (2012)Life in the flow lane: differences in pectoral fin morphology suggest transitions in station-holding demand acros ...

superfamily SUPERFAMILY is a database and search platform of structural and functional annotation for all proteins and genomes. It classifies amino acid sequences into known structural domains, especially into SCOP superfamilies. Domains are functional, str ...

but phylogentic analyses in the 21st Century place the grouping within the family Agonidae.

Genera

The following three genera are classified within the subfamily Hemitripterinae:

Characteristics

Hemitripterinae species are called sea ravens because early zoologists posited that their large pectoral fins may be used to fly in the air. Another name is sailfin sculpins, referring to their tall

dorsal fins A dorsal fin is a fin on the back of most marine and freshwater vertebrates. Dorsal fins have evolved independently several times through convergent evolution adapting to marine environments, so the fins are not all homologous. They are found i ...

, in particular the very tall first dorsal fin of '' Nautichthys oculofasciatus''. Their head and body are clothed with tiny "prickles", these being modified, platelike scales each having one spine which is covered in skin. The frontoparietal ridge is knobby. The

preoperculum This glossary of ichthyology is a list of definitions of terms and concepts used in ichthyology, the study of fishes. A B C ...

has 3 or 4 spines which are mainly blunt and covered in skin. There are two dorsal fins, the first is supported by between 6 and 19 spines, the second by 11 to 30 soft rays. there are between 11 and 22 soft rays supporting the

anal fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the back bone and are supported o ...

and the

pectoral fin Fins are moving appendages protruding from the body of fish that interact with water to generate thrust and help the fish aquatic locomotion, swim. Apart from the tail or caudal fin, fish fins have no direct connection with the vertebral column ...

has a single spine and 3 soft rays. The lateral line canal is complete and contains more than 35 pores. They have both vomerine and palatine teeth. The gill membrane has a wide attachment to the isthmus and forms a fold across the throat. They do not have a swim bladder, In some species the males have external genital papilla. They have bands and other markings but the coloration can vary with habitat. They vary in maximum size from a

total length Fish measurement is the measuring of individual fish and various parts of their anatomies, for data used in many areas of ichthyology, including taxonomy and fishery biology. Overall length Standard length (SL) is the length of a fish measured f ...

of in the shortmast sculpin (''Nautichthys robustus'') to around in the

bigmouth sculpin The bigmouth sculpin (''Hemitripterus bolini'') is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the subfamily Hemitripterinae of the family Agonidae. This species is found in the northern Pacific Ocean from the Bering Sea and the Aleutian Isla ...

(''Hemitripterus bolini'').

Distribution and habitat

Hemitripterinae sculpins are mainly found in the North Pacific Ocean, with a single species, the sea raven (''

Hemitripterus americanus ''Hemitripterus americanus'', the sea raven, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the subfamily Hemitripterinae of the Family (biology), family Agonidae. The sea raven is found along the Atlantic coast of North America. Taxonomy '' ...

'') being found in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean. They are marine,

demersal fish Demersal fish, also known as groundfish, live and feed on or near the bottom of seas or lakes (the demersal zone).Walrond Carl . "Coastal fish - Fish of the open sea floor"Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Updated 2 March 2009 They oc ...

es found from the

intertidal zone The intertidal zone or foreshore is the area above water level at low tide and underwater at high tide; in other words, it is the part of the littoral zone within the tidal range. This area can include several types of habitats with various ...

down to in excess of , although the majority of then are found in less than . 200 m.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1966392 Hemitripterinae Agonidae Taxa named by Theodore Gill Ray-finned fish subfamilies