Astrocottus

Astrocottus is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Cottidae, the typical sculpins. These fishes are found in the northwestern Pacific Ocean.

Astrocottus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Perciformes
Suborder:	Cottoidei
Family:	Psychrolutidae
Genus:	Astrocottus Bolin, 1936
Type species
Astrocottus leprops Bolin, 1936[1]

Taxonomy

Astrocottus was first proposed as a monospecific genus in 1936 by the American ichthyologist Rolf Ling Bolin^[1] when he described Astrocottus leprops from the Tsugaru Strait in Japan.^[2] The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies the genus Astrocottus within the subfamily Cottinae of the family Cottidae,^[3] however, other authors classify the genus within the subfamily Psychrolutinae of the family Psychrolutidae.^[1]

Species

There are currently four recognized species in this genus:^[4]

• Astrocottus leprops Bolin, 1936
• Astrocottus matsubarae Katayama, 1942
• Astrocottus oyamai M. Watanabe, 1958
• Astrocottus regulus Tsuruoka, Maruyama & Yabe, 2008