Abyssocottinae

"Deep-water sculpin" redirects here. For the species from North America, see deepwater sculpin.

The Abyssocottinae are a subfamily of ray-finned fishes in the family Cottidae, the sculpins. They are known commonly as the deep-water sculpins.^[2] The entire subfamily is endemic to Lake Baikal in Siberia.^[4]

Abyssocottinae
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Perciformes
Suborder:	Cottoidei
Family:	Cottidae
Subfamily:	Abyssocottinae Berg, 1907[1]
Genera[2][3]
see text

Sculpins of this subfamily mostly live in deep water, below 170 m (560 ft).^[2] There are 24 known species in seven genera.^[2][3] These include, for instance, Abyssocottus korotneffi and Cottinella boulengeri which are among the deepest-living freshwater fish.^[5] Baikal is the deepest lake on Earth (1,642 m or 5,387 ft) and sculpins occupy even its greatest depths.^[4]

Evolution and systematics

Molecular studies based on mitochondrial DNA suggest that the Abyssocottinae along with other Lake Baikal cottoid fishes, now attributed to the likewise endemic Cottocomephorinae (Baikal sculpins) and Comephorinae (Baikal oilfish), together make a monophyletic group that has originated and diversified within the lake relative recently, since the Pliocene. The ancestors of this species flock comprising more than 30 species belonged to the widespread freshwater sculpin genus Cottus (in Cottidae). The Abyssocottidae itself appears as a natural group within this radiation, except that also the genus Batrachocottus should be included.^[6]

Genera

The following genera have been included in the subfamily:^[7]

• Abyssocottus Berg, 1906
• Asprocottus Berg, 1906
• Batrachocottus Berg, 1903
• Cyphocottus Sideleva, 2003
• Cottinella Berg, 1907
• Limnocottus Berg, 1906
• Neocottus Sideleva, 1982
• Procottus Gratzianov, 1902