A sculpin is a type of

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% of li ...

that belongs to the superfamily Cottoidea in the order

Scorpaeniformes The Scorpaeniformes are a diverse order of ray-finned fish, including the lionfishes and sculpins, but have also been called the Scleroparei. It is one of the five largest orders of bony fishes by number of species, with over 1,320. They are ...

.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 (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...

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. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...

zones. They live in rivers,

submarine canyon A submarine canyon is a steep-sided valley cut into the seabed of the continental slope, sometimes extending well onto the continental shelf, having nearly vertical walls, and occasionally having canyon wall heights of up to 5 km, from c ...

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 Ea ...

s, and shallow

littoral The littoral zone or nearshore is the part of a sea, lake, or river that is close to the shore. In coastal ecology, the littoral zone includes the intertidal zone extending from the high water mark (which is rarely inundated), to coastal areas ...

habitat types, such as

tidepools A tide pool or rock pool is a shallow pool of seawater that forms on the rocky intertidal shore. Many of these pools exist as separate bodies of water only at low tide. Many tide pool habitats are home to especially adaptable animals that ...

. Sculpins are

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning "t ...

fish, dwelling on the bottoms of water bodies. Their

pectoral fins Fins are distinctive anatomical features composed of bony spines or rays protruding from the body of a fish. They are covered with skin and joined together either in a webbed fashion, as seen in most bony fish, or similar to a flipper, as se ...

are smooth on the upper edge and webbed with sharp rays along the lower edge, a modification that makes them specialized for gripping the substrate. This adaptation helps the fish anchor in fast-flowing water. The sculpin normally grows to about four inches long.

Families and subfamilies

Families include: *

Jordaniidae Jordaniidae is a small family of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the order Scorpaeniformes. These fishes are found in the eastern North Pacific Ocean. Taxonomy Jordaniidae was first proposed as a subfamily, Jordaniinae, of the family Cotti ...

Starks, 1895 *

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 ichthyo ...

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

Gilbert Gilbert may refer to: People and fictional characters * Gilbert (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Gilbert (surname), including a list of people Places Australia * Gilbert River (Queensland) * Gilbert River (South ...

, 1883 * Scorpaenichthyidae Jordan & Evermann, 1898 *

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 ...

Swainson, 1839 **

Hemilepidontinae ''Hemilepidotus'', the Irish lords, is a genus of ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Agonidae, the poachers and sea ravens. These fishes are found in northern Pacific, northern Atlantic and the Arctic Oceans. Species There are currently s ...

Jordan & Evermann, 1898 **

Hemitripterinae The Hemitripterinae is a subfamily of the scorpaeniform family Agonidae, known as sea ravens or sailfin sculpins. They are bottom-dwelling fish that feed on small invertebrates, found in the northwest Atlantic and north Pacific Oceans. They are c ...

Gill A gill () is a respiratory organ that many 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 respiration on land provided they are ...

, 1856 ** Bothragoninae

Lindberg Lindberg is a municipality in the district of Regen in Bavaria in Germany in the immediate neighbourhood of the larger town Zwiesel. Location Lindberg lies in the Danube Forest (''Donau-Wald'') region in the middle of the Bavarian Forest on ...

, 1971 **

Hypsagoninae Hypsagoninae is a subfamily of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpo ...

Gill, 1861 ** Anoplagoninae Gill, 1861 ** Brachyopsinae Jordan & Evermann, 1898 ** Agoninae Swainson, 1839 **

Bathyagoninae Bathyagoninae is a subfamily of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Agonidae, part of the sculpin A sculpin is a type of fish that belongs to the superfamily Cottoidea in the order Scorpaeniformes.Kane, E. A. and T. E. Higham. (2 ...

Lindberg, 1971 *

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 ...

Bonaparte, 1831 **

Cottinae Cottinae is a subfamily of ray-finned fishes belonging to the family 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. ...

Bonaparte, 1831 **

Comephorinae ''Comephorus'', known as the golomyankas or Baikal oilfish, are a genus comprising two species of peculiar, sculpin fishes endemic to Lake Baikal in Russia. ''Comephorus'' is the only genus in the family Comephoridae. Golomyankas are pelagic fish ...

Bonaparte 1850 ** Abbyssocottinae Berg, 1907 *

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

Günther, 1861 ** Cottunculinae

Regan The family name Regan, along with its cognates O'Regan, O Regan, Reagan, and O'Reagan, is an Anglicized form of the Irish surname Ó Riagáin or Ó Ríogáin, from Ua Riagáin. The meaning is likely to have originated in ancient Gaelic ''ri'' ...

, 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 The sailfin sculpin (''Nautichthys oculofasciatus'', lit. "eye-banded sailor fish") is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the subfamily Hemitripterinae of the family Agonidae. This sculpin is found in the eastern Pacific Ocean fr ...

'' Ambophthalmos angustus.jpg, '' Ambophthalmos angustus''

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1136740 Cottoidei Fish of Greenland