''Icelinus''is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of marine

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 ...

es 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. These fishes are found in the northern and eastern

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, 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 ...

Taxonomy

''Icelinus'' was first proposed as a monospecific genus in 1885 by the American

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, 35,800 species of fish had been described as of March 2 ...

David Starr Jordan David Starr Jordan (January 19, 1851 – September 19, 1931) was the founding president of Stanford University, serving from 1891 to 1913. He was an ichthyologist during his research career. Prior to serving as president of Stanford Universi ...

with its only and

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, 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 spe ...

being ''Artedius quadriseriatus''. This species had been described in 1880 by the English zoologist

William Neale Lockington William Neale Lockington (1840 in Rugby, Warwickshire, England – 1902 in Worthing, Sussex) was an English zoologist. California Lockington was the curator of the California Academy of Sciences museum in San Francisco, California ...

from

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

. The 5th edition of ''

Fishes of the World ''Fishes of the World'' is a standard reference for the systematics of fishes. It was first written in 1976 by the American ichthyologist Joseph S. Nelson (1937–2011). Now in its fifth edition (2016), the work is a comprehensive overview of t ...

'' classifies this genus within the subfamily

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 ...

of the family Cottidae, however, other authors classify the genus within the subfamily Oligocottinae of the family

Psychrolutidae The fish family Psychrolutidae (commonly known as blobfishes, flathead sculpins, or tadpole sculpins) contains over 35 recognized species in 8 genera. This family consists of bottom-dwelling marine sculpins shaped like tadpoles, with large heads ...

. The genus ''Icelinus'' may not be

monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...

as a study found that the 9 eastern Pacific species were in a

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

which was a

sister taxon In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

to the genera '' Furcina'' and ''

Antipodocottus ''Antipodocottus'' is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the Family (biology), family Cottidae, the typical sculpins. These fishes are found in the western Pacific Ocean. This is the only genus of Cottids represented in the Southern ...

'' while the 2 northwestern Pacific species (''I. japonicus'' and ''I. pietschi'') were found to be so closely related to the genus '' Stlengis'' that they were placed within that genus, leaving ''Icelinus'' confined to the eastern Pacific.

Etymology

''Icelinus'' is a diminutive of '' Icelus'', the genus ''I. quadriseriatus'' was thought to belong to.

Species

There are currently 11 recognized species in this genus: * '' Icelinus borealis'' C. H. Gilbert, 1896 (Northern sculpin) * '' Icelinus burchami'' Evermann & Goldsborough, 1907 (Dusky sculpin) * '' Icelinus cavifrons'' C. H. Gilbert, 1890 (Pit-head sculpin) * '' Icelinus filamentosus'' C. H. Gilbert, 1890 (Threadfin sculpin) * '' Icelinus fimbriatus'' C. H. Gilbert, 1890 (Fringed sculpin) * ''

Icelinus japonicus ''Icelinus''is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the Family (biology), family Cottidae, the typical sculpins. These fishes are found in the northern and eastern Pacific Ocean. Taxonomy ''Icelinus'' was first proposed as a monospec ...

Yabe was a village located in Yame District, Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. Yabe is located at 330m above sea level. The average temperature is 14 °C and the average annual precipitation is 2,706mm. As of 2006, the village had an estimated popula ...

Tsumura Kampō (or Kanpō, 漢方) medicine is the Japanese study and adaptation of Traditional Chinese medicine. Today in Japan, kampo is integrated into the national health care system. In 1967, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare approved 4 kamp ...

& Katayama, 1980 * '' Icelinus limbaughi'' Rosenblatt & W. L. Smith, 2004 (Canyon sculpin) * '' Icelinus oculatus'' C. H. Gilbert, 1890 (Frogmouth sculpin) * '' Icelinus pietschi'' Yabe,

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& Amaoka, 2001 * '' Icelinus quadriseriatus'' ( Lockington, 1880) (Yellowchin sculpin) * '' Icelinus tenuis'' C. H. Gilbert, 1890 (Spotfin sculpin)

Characteristics

''Icelinus'' sculpins are characterised by having the fourth uppermost spine on 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 ...

having a number of points like the

antler Antlers are extensions of an animal's skull found in members of the Cervidae (deer) Family (biology), family. Antlers are a single structure composed of bone, cartilage, fibrous tissue, skin, nerves, and blood vessels. They are generally fo ...

of a deer. They have a single spine and 2 soft rays in the

pelvic fin Pelvic fins or ventral fins are paired fins located on the ventral (belly) surface of fish, and are the lower of the only two sets of paired fins (the other being the laterally positioned pectoral fins). The pelvic fins are homologous to the hi ...

and there are two rows of

ctenoid scale A fish scale is a small rigid plate that grows out of the skin of a fish. The skin of most jawed fishes is covered with these protective scales, which can also provide effective camouflage through the use of reflection and colouration, as w ...

s along the

dorsal fin 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 ...

bases. These are small fishes, the largest species in the genus is ''I. filamentosus'', which has a maximum published

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 , while the smallest is ''I. piestchi'' which has a maximum published

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

of .

Distribution

''Icelinus'' sculpins are found in the northern and eastern Pacific Ocean. They are inshore fishes.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q142573 Cottinae Marine fish genera Taxa named by David Starr Jordan