''Abyssocottus'' is a genus of ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Cottidae, the typical sculpins. These sculpins are endemic to

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 Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Repu ...

in Russia.

Taxonomy

''Abyssocottus'' was first proposed as a genus 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 Octobe ...

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 ''Abyssocottus korotneffi'' designated as its type species. The 5th edition of ''

Fishes of the World ''Fishes of the World'' by the American 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 classification of the ...

'' classified this genus within 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 ...

. However, other authorities have used phylogenetic 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 three recognized species in this genus: * '' Abyssocottus elochini'' Taliev, 1955 * ''

Abyssocottus gibbosus ''Abyssocottus gibbosus'' is a species of ray-finned fish belonging to the family Cottidae, the typical sculpins. These sculpins are endemic to Lake Baikal Lake Baikal (, russian: Oзеро Байкал, Ozero Baykal ); mn, Байгал ...

'' L. S. Berg, 1906 * '' Abyssocottus korotneffi'' L. S. Berg, 1906

References

Scorpaeniformes genera Fish of Lake Baikal Taxa named by Lev Berg Fauna of Lake Baikal {{Scorpaeniformes-stub