Ronquils (sometimes spelt ronchils) is a small family marine ray-finned fish, the Bathymasteridae. These fishes are found only in Arctic and North Pacific waters. This family contains just seven species in three genera. The larger species are important to commercial fisheries as food fish. Ronquils are most closely related to the eelpouts and prowfish in the suborder Zoarcoidei of the order Scorpaeniformes.
Taxonomy
The Bathymasteridae was first proposed as a family in 1883 by the American ichthyologists David Starr Jordan and Charles Henry Gilbert. Other authorities classify this family in the infraorder Zoarcales within the suborder Cottoidei of the Perciformes because removing the Scorpaeniformes from the Perciformes renders that taxon non monophyletic. The monophyly of the Zoarcoidei has still not been fully ascertained but it is generally accepted that the most basal family is Bathymasteridae.
Genera
The ronquil family contains seven species divided into three genera as follows: Ronquins vary in size from a total length of in Ronquilus jordani to more over for Bathymaster signatus.
Ronquils feed primarily on small benthic crustaceans and mollusks, and the stomachs of some specimens sampled contained only nudibranch]s. Little is known about predators of ronqulis but it is presumed that most larger carnivores that occur in the same areas as them, especially predatory fishes, will prey on them. Although considered fairly common, ronquils are rarely observed; this is likely owing to their secretive nature.
Few specifics are recorded regarding ronquil spawning, but the males are known to guard the brood.