Sculpin Explained

A sculpin is a type of fish that belongs to the superfamily Cottoidea in the order Scorpaeniformes.^[1] As of 2006, this superfamily contains 7 families, 94 genera, and 387 species.

Sculpins occur in many types of habitat, including ocean and freshwater zones. They live in rivers, submarine canyons, kelp forests, and shallow littoral habitat types, such as tidepools.

Families and subfamilies

Families include:^{[2] [3]}

• Jordaniidae Starks, 1895
• Rhamphocottidae Jordan & Gilbert, 1883
• Scorpaenichthyidae Jordan & Evermann, 1898
• Agonidae Swainson, 1839
  • Hemilepidontinae Jordan & Evermann, 1898
  • Hemitripterinae Gill, 1856
  • Bothragoninae Lindberg, 1971
  • Hypsagoninae Gill, 1861
  • Anoplagoninae Gill, 1861
  • Brachyopsinae Jordan & Evermann, 1898
  • Agoninae Swainson, 1839
  • Bathyagoninae Lindberg, 1971
• Cottidae Bonaparte, 1831
  • Cottinae Bonaparte, 1831
  • Comephorinae Bonaparte 1850
  • Abyssocottinae Berg, 1907
• Psychrolutidae Günther, 1861
  • Cottunculinae Regan, 1913
  • Psychrolutinae Günther, 1861
• Bathylutichthyidae Balushkin & Voskoboinikova, 1990

Notes and References

1. 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.
2. Book: Fishes of the World . 5th . J. S. Nelson . T. C. Grande . M. V. H. Wilson . 2016 . 467–495 . Wiley . 978-1-118-34233-6 . 2022-12-19 . 2019-04-08 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190408194051/https://sites.google.com/site/fotw5th/ . dead .
3. Richard van der Laan . William N. Eschmeyer . Ronald Fricke . amp . 2014 . Family-group names of Recent fishes . Zootaxa . 3882 . 2 . 001–230 . 10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1 . 25543675 . free .