Zesticelus
{{Short description|Genus of fishes}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| image = Zesticelus bathybius.jpg
| image_caption = Z. bathybius
| image2 = FMIB 39409 Zesticelus profundorum (Gilbert).jpeg
| image2_caption = Z. profundorum
| taxon = Zesticelus
| authority = Jordan & Evermann, 1896
| type_species = Acanthocottus profundorum
| type_species_authority = Gilbert, 1896{{Cof family|family=Psychrolutinae|access-date=2 March 2023}}
}}
Zesticelus is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Cottidae, the typical sculpins. These fishes are found in the North Pacific Ocean.
Taxonomy
Zesticelus was first proposed as a monospecific genus in 1896 by the American ichthyologists David Starr Jordan and Barton Warren Evermann with Acanthocottus profundorum designated as its type species. A. profundorum was originally described in 1896 by Charles Henry Gilbert who gave its type locality as the Bering Sea north of Unalaska Island.{{Cof genus|genus=Zesticelus|access-date=1 March 2023}} The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies the genus Zesticelus within the subfamily Cottinae of the family Cottidae,{{cite book |title=Fishes of the World |edition=5th |author1=J. S. Nelson |author2=T. C. Grande |author3=M. V. H. Wilson |year=2016 |pages= 467–495 |publisher=Wiley |isbn= 978-1-118-34233-6 |url=https://sites.google.com/site/fotw5th/ }} however, other authors classify the genus within the subfamily Psychrolutinae of the family Psychrolutidae.
Species
There are currently three recognized species in this genus:{{FishBase genus | genus = Zesticelus| month = December | year = 2012}}
- Zesticelus bathybius (Günther, 1878)
- Zesticelus ochotensis Yabe, 1995
- Zesticelus profundorum (C. H. Gilbert, 1896) (Flabby sculpin)
There is a fourth species which has an uncertain taxonomic status, Zesticelus japonicus which was described from Niigata in Japan in 1957 but the type has been lost.
Characteristics
Zesticelus sculpins have naked bodies which do not have scales or cirri. The branchiostegal membranes that are united and old over the isthmus, There are large pores in the sensory canals on the head, The highest spine on the preoperculum is long and slightly curved. There are teeth on the prevomer but not on the palatine.{{cite journal | author = M. Yabe | year = 1995 | title = A new species of sculpin, Zesticelus ochotensis (Scorpaeniformes: Cottidae), from the southwestern Okhotsk Sea | journal = Japanese Journal of Ichthyology | volume = 42 | issue = 1 | pages = 17-20 | url = https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jji1950/42/1/42_1_17/_pdf}} These are small fishes with the largest species, Z. profundorum, having a maximum published total length of {{cvt|6.4|cm}}.