The Long-Horned Sculpin (Myoxocephalus octodecimspinosus)
The sculpins, or cottids, are a widespread family. The fish live near the sea floor. Perhaps they are most easily recognized by their eyes. These are large, and placed high on the head. To some, the cottids may appear strange-looking, or even ugly. Nonetheless, the fish are important ecologically. The long-horned variety, Myoxocephalus octodecimspinosus, is an unremarkable sculpin.
Myoxocephalus octodecimspinosus belongs to the phylum Chordata, the subphylum Vertebrata, and the superclass Gnathostomata. A ray-finned fish, M. octodecimspinosus is also a member of the class Actinopterygii. The species further belongs in the division Teleostei, the subdivision Euteleostei, the superorder Acanthopterygii, and the order Scorpaeniformes (Nelson 19-322).
Members of the superorder Acanthopterygii have protrusible jaws. In addition, the order Scorpaeniformes includes the "mail-cheeked" fishes (Nelson 308). These fish have a characteristic posterior extension of their third infraorbital bone, the suborbital stay. The structure extends longitudinally across the cheek and attaches to the preoperculum (Gosline 167-168). Within this group of fish, M. octodecimspinosus is grouped with the suborder Cottoidei, the superfamily Cottoidea, and, finally, the family Cottidae (Nelson 19-322).
There are about 70 cottid genera and roughly 300 species. These are widely distributed in both salt and fresh waters from north temperate to Arctic regions (Jenkins & Burkhead 625-627). A few marine species also live in the Southern Hemisphere (i.e., eastern Australia, the Kai islands west of New Guinea, and New Zealand) (Nelson 322-324). Most cottids are scaleless or partially scaled, marine bottom-dwelling fish (Herald, Living Fishes of the World 248-249).
The sculpins are actually quite highly evolved. Teleost fish arose approximately 200 to 220 million years ago dur...