Enophrys

Enophrys is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Psychrolutidae, the marine sculpins. These fishes are found in the northern and eastern Pacific Ocean.

Taxonomy

Enophrys was first proposed as a monospecific genus in 1839 by the English zoologist William Swainson with its only and type species being Cottus claviger. This species had been described in 1839 by the French zoologist Georges Cuvier from Kamchatka but it was later determined to be a synonym of Cottus diceraus, originally described by Peter Simon Pallas in 1787, also from Kamchatka. The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies this genus within the subfamily Cottinae of the family Cottidae, however, other authors classify the genus within the subfamily Myoxocephalinae of the family Psychrolutidae, although others place the subfamily Myoxocephalinae within the Cottidae.

Etymology

Enophrys prefixes phrys, meaning "brow", with en, ning "very", presumed to be a reference to the thick orbital ridge of the type species.

Species

Enophrys contains 4 recognized species within it:

The fossil species †Enophrys hoplites Nazarkin, 2017 is known from complete fossil skeletons recovered from the Middle Miocene-aged Agnevo Formation of Sakhalin, Russia. In addition, the potential fossil species †Enophrys euglyphus Stinton, 1966 is known from isolated otoliths recovered from the Early Eocene-aged London Clay of England.

Characteristics

Enophrys sculpins share the possession of plates along their lateral lines and some species have prickly scales underneath the lateral line. They also have a very long, sharp spine on the upper preoperculum and sharp spines on the nose. The bull sculpin is the smallest species with a maximum recorded total length of while the largest species is the buffalo sculpin which reaches a maximum published total length of.

Distribution

Enophrys sculpins are only found in the northern and Eastern Pacific Oceans from the Sea of Japan to California.