''Enophrys'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

of marine

ray-finned fish Actinopterygii (; ), members of which are known as ray-finned fishes, is a class of bony fish. They comprise over 50% of living vertebrate species. The ray-finned fishes are so called because their fins are webs of skin supported by bony or hor ...

es belonging to the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

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 oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

Taxonomy

''Enophrys'' was first proposed as a monospecific genus in 1839 by the English

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

William John Swainson William John Swainson FLS, FRS (8 October 1789 – 6 December 1855), was an English ornithologist, malacologist, conchologist, entomologist and artist. Life Swainson was born in Dover Place, St Mary Newington, London, the eldest son of ...

with its only and

type species In 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 species that contains the biological type specimen ...

being ''Cottus claviger''. This species had been described in 1839 by the French zoologist

Georges Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, Baron Cuvier (; 23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier, was a French natural history, naturalist and zoology, zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuvier ...

from Kamchatka but it was later determined to be a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

of ''Cottus diceraus'', originally described by Peter Simon Pallas in 1787, also from Kamchatka. 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 ...

'' classifies this genus within the subfamily

Cottinae Cottinae is a subfamily of ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Cottidae, the typical 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. (2012)Life in t ...

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

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 ...

, although others place the subfamily Myoxocephalinae within the Cottidae.

Etymology

''Enophrys'' prefixes ''phrys'', meaning "brow", with ''en'', ning "very", presumed to be a reference to the thick orbital ridge of the type species.

Species

''Enophrys'' contains 4 recognized species within it: * ''

Enophrys bison ''Enophrys bison'', the buffalo sculpin, is a species of marine ray-finned fish, belonging to the Family (biology), family Cottidae, the typical sculpins. It is found in the eastern Pacific Ocean. Taxonomy The buffalo sculpin was first formal ...

'' ( Girard, 1854) (Buffalo sculpin) * '' Enophrys diceraus'' ( Pallas, 1787) (Antlered sculpin) * '' Enophrys lucasi'' ( D. S. Jordan & C. H. Gilbert, 1898) (Leister sculpin) * '' Enophrys taurina'' C. H. Gilbert, 1914 (Bull sculpin)

Characteristics

''Enophrys'' sculpins share the possession of plates along their

lateral line The lateral line, also called the lateral line organ (LLO), is a system of sensory organs found in fish, used to detect movement, vibration, and pressure gradients in the surrounding water. The sensory ability is achieved via modified epithelial ...

s and some species have prickly scales underneath the lateral line. They also have a very long, sharp spine on the upper

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

and sharp spines on the nose. The bull sculpin is the smallest species with a maximum recorded

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

of while the largest species is the buffalo sculpin which reaches a maximum published total length of .

Distribution

''Enophrys'' sculpins are only found in the northern and Eastern Pacific Oceans from 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 h ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

References

{{Authority control Cottinae Taxa named by William John Swainson