Rhamphocottidae is a family of ray-finned fishes belonging to the superfamily Cottoidea, the sculpins. The species in this family occur in the North Pacific Ocean.
Taxonomy
Rhamphocottidae was first proposed as a family by the American ichthyologists David Starr Jordan and Charles Henry Gilbert in 1883. Within the Cottoidea the Ramphocottidae is the sister taxon to all the other groups.
Genera
Rhamphocottidae contains the following genera:
Characteristics
Rhamphocottidae sculpins have a single pharyngobranchial bone. In the pectoral fins several of the lower pectoral rays are separated from the upper lobe and are free of the fin membrane. There are fin stays in the dorsal and anal fin. The tail has all parts of the hypural and parhypural fused into a single complex structure. while the largest is Ereunias grallator which reaches a maximum published total length of .
Distribution and habitat
Rhamphocottidae are found in the North Pacific Ocean where they are found from Japan along the Asian coasts to Alaska and south to California.