A sculpin is a type of fish that belongs to the superfamily Cottoidea in the order Scorpaeniformes.[1] As of 2006, this superfamily contains 11 families, 149 genera, and 756 species.[2]

Sculpin
Myoxocephalus octodecemspinosus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Scorpaeniformes
Suborder:	Cottoidei
Superfamily:	Cottoidea

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.[1]

Sculpins are benthic fish, dwelling on the bottoms of water bodies. Their pectoral fins 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.[1] The sculpin normally grows to about four inches long.[3]

Families

Families include:[4]

• Abyssocottidae: deep-water sculpins (24 species)
• Agonidae (47 species)
• Bathylutichthyidae (two species)
• Comephoridae: Baikal oilfishes (two species)
• Cottidae: common sculpins (258 species, including Icelidae, sometimes regarded as separate)
• Cottocomephoridae: bighead sculpins, Baikal sculpins (9 species)
• Ereuniidae: deepwater bullhead sculpins (three species)
• Hemitripteridae: sea ravens, sailfin sculpins (eight species)
• Psychrolutidae: fatheads (40 species)
• Rhamphocottidae: the grunt sculpin (one species)

Gallery

• 
  Cottus caeruleomentum
• 
  Pseudoblennius zonostigma
• 
  Nautichthys oculofasciatus
• 
  Ambophthalmos angustus

References