Untitled - Alaska Resources Library

Eurymen gyrinus Gilbert & Burke, 1912. Smoothcheek Sculpin. To 38.8 cm (15.3 in) TL (Lindberg and
Krasyukova 1987). Seas of Japan and Okhotsk and Pacific coast of Honshu, Japan to Commander–
Aleutian chain and Bering Sea, Alaska to northern Chukchi Sea, to Kodiak Island, western Gulf of Alaska
(Mecklenburg et al. 2002). At depths of 2–400 m (7–1,312 ft; Chereshnev et al. 2001).
Malacocottus aleuticus (Smith, 1904). Whitetail Sculpin. To 9.8 cm (3.9 in) TL. Okhotsk Sea to Pacific Ocean
off southeastern Kamchatka; Bering Sea north of Rat Islands; Prince William Sound, Gulf of Alaska
(Mecklenburg et al. 2002); and northwest of Queen Charlotte Islands, northern British Columbia (G. E.
Gillespie, pers. comm. to C. W. M.). At depths of 200–600 m (656–1,968 ft) (min.: Mecklenburg et al.
2002; max.: Sheiko and Fedorov 2000). Collected from bottom and in midwater (Mecklenburg et al.
2002). Originally named Thecopterus aleuticus.
Malacocottus kincaidi Gilbert & Thompson, 1905. Blackfin Sculpin. To 10.6 cm (4.2 in) TL (Mecklenburg
et al. 2002). British Columbia to Puget Sound, Washington (Mecklenburg et al. 2002). Reported
from northern Oregon (45°53'N; Weinberg et al. 2002), but possibly confused with M. zonurus and
not verifiable without voucher specimen. Shallow water, depth range not known because of historical
confusion with M. zonurus (Mecklenburg et al. 2002). Specimens identified as M. kincaidi from Alaska
that we have examined have the diagnostic characters of M. zonurus (Mecklenburg et al. 2002; C. W. M.
and T. A. M., unpubl. data). Malacocottus kincaidi may be a subspecies or ecotypic variation of M.
zonurus occurring in shallower waters.
Malacocottus zonurus Bean, 1890. Darkfin Sculpin. To 35 cm (13.8 in) TL (Tokranov and Orlov 2001).
Japan Sea off Korean Peninsula, Pacific Ocean off Honshu, and Okhotsk Sea to Commander–Aleutian
chain and Bering Sea, Alaska to Cape Navarin, to Washington (Mecklenburg et al. 2002); reported from
northern Oregon (45°03'N; Weinberg et al. 2002). At depths of 27–1,980 m (89–6,496 ft) (min.: Sheiko
and Fedorov 2000; max.: Allen and Smith 1988).
Psychrolutes paradoxus Günther, 1861. Tadpole Sculpin. To 6.5 cm (2.6 in) TL (Mecklenburg et al. 2002).
Okhotsk and Japan seas to Norton Sound, Bering Sea and Commander–Aleutian chain to Puget Sound,
Washington (Mecklenburg et al. 2002). At depths of 6–220 m (20–722 ft) (min.: A. P. Summers, pers.
comm. to M. L.; max.: Hart 1973). Summers reported P. paradoxus to be common in beach seines in
Puget Sound using seines fishing to maximum depth of 6 m (20 ft). A record from 1,100 m (3,609 ft;
Fedorov 2000) was later determined to represent P. phrictus (B. A. Sheiko, pers. comm. to C. W. M.).
Psychrolutes phrictus Stein & Bond, 1978. Blob Sculpin or Giant Blobsculpin . To about 70 cm (27.5 in) TL
(Eschmeyer and Herald 1983). Okhotsk Sea and Pacific side of Honshu, Japan to Commander Islands
and western Bering Sea north to Cape Navarin, to eastern Bering Sea (Mecklenburg et al. 2002) to Pacific
Ocean off San Diego, southern California (Eschmeyer and Herald 1983). At depths of 480–2,800 m
(1,575–9,186 ft) (min.: Matarese and Stein 1980; max.: Stein and Bond 1978). Although washed up on
a beach once at Adak Island in Alaska (Mecklenburg et al. 2002) and caught once in shallow water off
Westport, Washington (Schoener and Fluharty 1985), these are rare records for this bottom-dwelling,
deepwater species, and likely reflect abnormal circumstances.
Psychrolutes sigalutes (Jordan & Starks, 1895). Soft Sculpin. To 8.3 cm (3.25 in) TL (Clemens and Wilby 1946).
Commander Islands, Russia; Aleutian Islands off Adak Island, Alaska to southern Puget Sound, Washington
(Mecklenburg et al. 2002). Larvae of this species have been taken in the eastern Bering Sea (Matarese et al.
2003). Surface to depth of 225 m (738 ft; Hart 1973). Occasionally seen as Gilbertidia sigalutes.
Family Agonidae — Poachers
A few of the species names in this family differ from those given by Nelson et al. (2004), who followed a review
of the family (Kanayama 1991) based primarily on study of the western Pacific forms. The classification
used here follows Sheiko (1993) and Sheiko and Mecklenburg (2004).
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