| Cottidae | |
|---|---|
| |
| Cottus cognatus | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Scorpaeniformes |
| Superfamily: | Cottoidea |
| Family: | Cottidae Bonaparte, 1831[1] |
| Subfamilies and genera | |
|
see text | |
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.[2] They are referred to simply as cottids to avoid confusion with sculpins of other families.[2]
Cottids are distributed worldwide, especially in boreal and colder temperate climates.[2] The center of diversity is the northern Pacific Ocean.[2] Species occupy many types of aquatic habitats, including marine and fresh waters, and deep and shallow zones. A large number occur in near-shore marine habitat types, such as kelp forests and shallow reefs. They can be found in estuaries and in bodies of fresh water.[2]
Most cottids are small fish, under 10 cm (3.9 in) in length.[3]
- ^ Richard van der Laan; William N. Eschmeyer & Ronald Fricke (2014). "Family-group names of Recent fishes". Zootaxa. 3882 (2): 001–230. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1. PMID 25543675.
- ^ a b c d e 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. Archived 2020-10-22 at the Wayback Machine Zoology (Jena) 115(4), 223-32.
- ^ Eschmeyer, W. N. (1998). Paxton, J. R. and W. N. Eschmeyer. (ed.). Encyclopedia of Fishes. San Diego: Academic Press. pp. 178–79. ISBN 0-12-547665-5.