Abyssocottus is a genus of ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Cottidae, the typical sculpins. These sculpins are endemic to Lake Baikal in Russia.
Taxonomy Abyssocottus was first proposed as a genus by the Russian ichthyologist Lev Berg with Abyssocottus korotneffi designated as its type species. The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classified this genus within the subfamily Abyssocottinae. However, other authorities have used phylogenetic studies which have found that Baikal sculpins that were classified in the subfamilies Comephorinae and Abyssocottinae by Fishes of the World radiated from an ancestor which was likely to be within the genus Cottus and that the classification of the Baikal sculpins in a different taxon from Cottus was paraphyletic.
Species There are currently six recognized species in this genus, in two subgenera. Subgenus Abyssocottus Abyssocottus fuscus Bogdanov, 2014 Abyssocottus korotneffi L. S. Berg, 1906 Abyssocottus pumilus Bogdanov, 2014 Subgenus Korotnevia Bogdanov, 2023 Abyssocottus elochini Taliev, 1955 Abyssocottus gibbosus L. S. Berg, 1906 Abyssocottus subulatus (Dybowski, 1908)
References