Blepsias | |
---|---|
Crested sculpin (B. bilobus) | |
Silverspotted sculpin (B. cirrhosus) | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Actinopterygii |
Order: | Scorpaeniformes |
Family: | Agonidae |
Subfamily: | Hemitripterinae |
Genus: | Blepsias G. Cuvier, 1829 |
Type species | |
Trachinus cirrhosus | |
Synonyms [1] | |
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Blepsias is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Agonidae, the poachers and related fishes. These fishes are found in the coastal northern Pacific Ocean from Japan to California.
Blepsias was first proposed as a genus by the French zoologist Georges Cuvier with Trachinus cirrhosus, which had originally been described in 1814 by Peter Simon Pallas from Kamchatka, as the type species. [1] The genus is included in the subfamily Hemitripterinae of the family Agonidae. [2] Cuvier used a Greek name for a fish, as was his habit, for the name of the new genus. [3]
The recognized species in this genus are: [4]
Blepsias has a spiny preoperculum, a compressed head, with armoured cheeks and palatine teeth. The large pectoral fins have the lower rays separate from the fin membrane. There are fleshy flaps which hang from the snout. The compressed head separate Blepsias from Hemitripterus . [5] These fishes have maximum published standard lengths of 20 cm (7.9 in) in the case of B. cirrhosus and 25 cm (9.8 in) in B. bilobus. [4]
Blepsias sculpins are found in the North Pacific and the adjacent Arctic waters from Japan and the Sea of Okhotsk north to the Chukchi and Bering seas to central California. [6] They are demersal fishes of shallow, even intertidal, waters where there is algae. [4]
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 elongated bodies covered by scales modified into bony plates, and for using their large pectoral fins to move in short bursts. The family includes about 59 species in some 25 genera, some of which are quite widespread.
Rhamphocottus is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Rhamphocottidae. These fishes are known as grunt sculpins. The grunt sculpins are found in the North Pacific Ocean.
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 covered in small spines.
The Pacific staghorn sculpin is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Cottidae, the typical sculpins. This species is found in the eastern Pacific Ocean. It is the only species in the monospecific genus Lepidocottus.
Scorpaenopsis is a genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes. The fishes in this genus are found in the Indian and Pacific Ocean.
Agonus is a monospecific genus of ray-finned fish belonging to the subfamily Agoninae in the family Agonidae. Its only species is Agonus cataphractus, commonly known as the hooknose, pogge or armed bullhead. This is a demersal fish found in the coastal waters of the northeastern Atlantic Ocean.
Apistus is a monotypic genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the subfamily Apistinae, the wasp scorpionfishes, part of the family Scorpaenidae, the scorpionfishes and their relatives. Its only species is the Apistus carinatus which has the common names ocellated waspfish, bearded waspfish, longfin waspfish or ringtailed cardinalfish, has a wide Indo-Pacific distribution. This species has venom bearing spines in its fins.
Enophrys is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Cottidae, the typical sculpins. These fishes are found in the northern and eastern Pacific Ocean.
Gymnocanthus is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Cottidae, the typical sculpins. These fishes are found in the northern Pacific, Arctic and northern Atlantic Oceans.
The belligerent sculpin, or flathead sculpin, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Cottidae, the typical sculpins. This species occurs in the northern Pacific Ocean.
Megalocottus is a small genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Cottidae, the typical sculpins. These fishes are found in the western Pacific Ocean.
Ereunias is a monotypic genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Rhamphocottidae, the grunt sculpins. Its only species is Ereunias grallator which is a bathydemersal species found at depths of around 500 m (1,600 ft) in the northwestern Pacific Ocean off Japan. This species attains a maximum published total length of 30 cm (12 in). This species was first formally described in 1901 by the American ichthyologists David Starr Jordan and John Otterbein Snyder from Misaki, Sagami in Japan. Jordan and Snyder proposed the new genus Ereunias for the new species. The genus name is derived from ereunao, meaning "to explore" which may refer how it uses elongated pectoral-fin rays as feelers or “feet” to explore the substrate; suffixed with ias which is used in some Greek names for fishes. The specific name grallator is "stiltwalker" in Latin and is an allusion to the elongated pectoral fin rays. Along with the genus Marukawichthys this taxon was classified in the family Ereunidae but this was synonymised with the Rhamphocottidae in 2014.
Blepsias cirrhosus, the silverspotted sculpin, is a species of sculpin belonging to the subfamily Hemitripterinae of the family Agonidae. This species is found the northern Pacific Ocean from the Sea of Japan and Alaska to San Miguel Island off southern California.
Blepsias bilobus, the crested sculpin, is a species of sculpin belonging to the subfamily Hemitripterinae of the family Agonidae. This species is found in the North Pacific Ocean.
Myoxocephalus aenaeus, commonly known as the grubby, or little sculpin, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Cottidae, the typical sculpins. This species is found in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean.
Myoxocephalus jaok, the plain sculpin, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Cottidae, the typical sculpins. This species is found in the northern Pacific Ocean and adjacent Arctic Ocean.
The yellow Irish lord is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Agonidae It is found in the northern Pacific Ocean.
The butterfly sculpin is a species of fish in the family Agonidae. It is found in the North Pacific Ocean.
Enophrys diceraus, the antlered sculpin, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Cottidae, the typical sculpins. This species occurs in the northern Pacific Ocean.
Gymnocanthus pistilliger, the threaded sculpin, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Cottidae, the typical sculpins. This species occurs in the northern Pacific Ocean.