A sculpin is a type of

fish Fish are Aquatic animal, aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack Limb (anatomy), limbs with Digit (anatomy), digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and Chondrichthyes, cartilaginous and bony fish as we ...

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 wor ...

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 incl ...

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 habitat types, such as tidepools. 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 " ...

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 see ...

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 Cottid ...

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 ichthyolo ...

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 A ...

, 1883 *

Scorpaenichthyidae The cabezon (''Scorpaenichthys marmoratus'') is a large species of sculpin native to the Pacific coast of North America. Although the genus name translates literally as "scorpion fish", true scorpionfish (such as lionfish) belong to the relate ...

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 Jordan & Evermann, 1898 ** Hemitripterinae

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 ar ...

, 1856 **

Bothragoninae ''Bothragonus'' is a genus of poachers native to the Pacific Ocean. Species There are currently two recognized species in this genus: * ''Bothragonus occidentalis'' Lindberg, 1935 * '' Bothragonus swanii'' (Steindachner Franz Steindachner (1 ...

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 o ...

, 1971 ** Hypsagoninae Gill, 1861 **

Anoplagoninae Anoplagoninae 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. (20 ...

Gill, 1861 **

Brachyopsinae Brachyopsinae 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. (20 ...

Jordan & Evermann, 1898 **

Agoninae Agoninae 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. (2012)Li ...

Swainson, 1839 ** Bathyagoninae 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 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 ...

Bonaparte, 1831 ** Comephorinae 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 la ...

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 from ...

'' Ambophthalmos angustus.jpg, ''

Ambophthalmos angustus The pale toadfish (''Ambophthalmos angustus'', previously classified as ''Neophrynichthys angustus''Keith L. Jackson and Joseph S. Nelson, ''Ambophthalmos'', a new genus for "''Neophrynichthys''" ''angustus'' and "''Neophrynichthys''" ''magnicirru ...

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q1136740 Cottoidei Fish of Greenland