Blepsias

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Blepsias
Blepsias bilobus.jpg
Crested sculpin (B. bilobus)
Blepsias cirrhosus 2.jpg
Silverspotted sculpin (B. cirrhosus)
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Scorpaeniformes
Family: Agonidae
Subfamily: Hemitripterinae
Genus: Blepsias
G. Cuvier, 1829
Type species
Trachinus cirrhosus
Pallas, 1814 [1]
Synonyms [1]

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.

Contents

Taxonomy

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]

Species

The recognized species in this genus are: [4]

Characteristics

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]

Distribution and habitat

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]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agonidae</span> Family of fishes

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.

<i>Rhamphocottus</i> Genus of fish

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hemitripterinae</span> Family of fishes

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pacific staghorn sculpin</span> Species of fish

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.

<i>Scorpaenopsis</i> Genus of fishes

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.

<i>Agonus</i> Species of fish

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.

<i>Apistus</i> Species of fish

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.

<i>Enophrys</i> Genus of fishes

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.

<i>Gymnocanthus</i> Genus of fishes

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belligerent sculpin</span> Species of fish

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.

<i>Megalocottus</i> Genus of fishes

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.

<i>Ereunias</i> Species of fish

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.

<i>Blepsias cirrhosus</i> Species of fish

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.

<i>Blepsias bilobus</i> Species of fish

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.

<i>Myoxocephalus aenaeus</i> Species of fish

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.

<i>Myoxocephalus jaok</i> Species of fish

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yellow Irish lord</span> Species of fish

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Butterfly sculpin</span> Species of fish

The butterfly sculpin is a species of fish in the family Agonidae. It is found in the North Pacific Ocean.

<i>Enophrys diceraus</i> Species of fish

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.

<i>Gymnocanthus pistilliger</i> Species of fish

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.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Hemitripterinae". Catalog of Fishes . California Academy of Sciences . Retrieved 26 December 2022.
  2. J. S. Nelson; T. C. Grande; M. V. H. Wilson (2016). Fishes of the World (5th ed.). Wiley. pp. 467–495. ISBN   978-1-118-34233-6. Archived from the original on 2019-04-08. Retrieved 2022-12-30.
  3. Christopher Scharpf & Kenneth J. Lazara, eds. (22 October 2022). "Order Perciformes: Suborder Cottoidea: Infraorder Cottales: Families Trichodontidae, Jordaniidae, Rhamphocottidae, Scorpaenichthyidae and Agonidae". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf and Kenneth J. Lazara. Retrieved 29 December 2022.
  4. 1 2 3 Froese, Rainer and Pauly, Daniel, eds. (2022). Species of Blepsias in FishBase . August 2022 version.
  5. Cuvier, G. and A. Valenciennes (1829). Histoire naturelle des poissons. Tome quatrième. Livre quatrième. Des acanthoptérygiens à joue cuirassée (in French).
  6. Mecklenburg, C. W. (2003). "Family Hemitripteridae Gill 1872 — sea ravens or sailfin sculpins" (PDF). California Academy of Sciences Annotated Checklists of Fishes. 5.