Abyssocottinae

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Abyssocottinae
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Scorpaeniformes
Family: Cottidae
Subfamily: Abyssocottinae
Berg, 1907[1]
Genera[2][3]

see text

The Abyssocottinae are a subfamily of ray-finned fishes in the family Cottidae, the sculpins. They are known commonly as the deep-water sculpins.[2] The entire subfamily is endemic to Lake Baikal in Siberia.[4]

Sculpins of this subfamily mostly live in deep water, below 170 m (560 ft).[2] There are 24 known species in seven genera.[2][3] These include, for instance, Abyssocottus korotneffi and Cottinella boulengeri which are among the deepest-living freshwater fish.[5] Baikal is the deepest lake on Earth (1,642 m or 5,387 ft) and sculpins occupy even its greatest depths.[4]

Evolution and systematics

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Molecular studies based on mitochondrial DNA suggest that the Abyssocottinae along with other Lake Baikal cottoid fishes, now attributed to the likewise endemic Cottocomephorinae (Baikal sculpins) and Comephorinae (Baikal oilfish), together make a monophyletic group that has originated and diversified within the lake relative recently, since the Pliocene. The ancestors of this species flock comprising more than 30 species belonged to the widespread freshwater sculpin genus Cottus (in Cottidae). The Abyssocottidae itself appears as a natural group within this radiation, except that also the genus Batrachocottus should be included.[6]

Genera

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The following genera have been included in the subfamily:[7]

References

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  1. ^ Richard van der Laan; William N. Eschmeyer & Ronald Fricke (2014). "Family-group names of Recent fishes". Zootaxa. 3882 (2): 001–230. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.3882.1.1. PMID 25543675.
  2. ^ a b c d Froese, R. and D. Pauly. (Eds.) Abyssocottidae. FishBase. 2011.
  3. ^ a b Abyssocottidae. Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS).
  4. ^ a b Hunt, D. M., et al. (1997). Molecular evolution of the cottoid fish endemic to Lake Baikal deduced from nuclear DNA evidence. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 8(3), 415–22.
  5. ^ Jakubowski, M. (1997). Morphometry of gill respiratory area in the Baikalian deep-water sculpins Abyssocottus korotneffi and Cottinella boulengeri (Abyssocottidae, Cottoidei). Journal of Morphology 233(2), 105–12.
  6. ^ Tytti Kontula; Sergei V. Kirilchik; and Risto Väinölä (2003). "Endemic diversification of the monophyletic cottoid fish species flock in Lake Baikal explored with mtDNA sequencing]". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 27 (1): 143–155. doi:10.1016/S1055-7903(02)00376-7.
  7. ^ W. Leo Smith & Morgan S. Busby (2014). "Phylogeny and taxonomy of sculpins, sandfishes, and snailfishes (Perciformes: Cottoidei) with comments on the phylogenetic significance of their early-life-history specializations". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 79: 332–352. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2014.06.028.