great sculpin
Myoxocephalus polyacanthocephalus (Pallas, 1814)
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Open encyclopedia reference
Myoxocephalus polyacanthocephalus, the great sculpin, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Cottidae, the typical sculpins. It is found in the North Pacific Ocean from the Bering Sea and the Aleutian Islands, and extends from Hokkaido and the Kamchatka Peninsula to the Puget Sound, Washington.
It is the largest member of the genus Myoxocephalus and the second most common in the Bering Sea. It can grow to a size of 80 cm and 9 kg weight.
Myoxocephalus polyacanthocephalus is a predatory fish. It has acellular bones.
Wikipedia contributors, Myoxocephalus polyacanthocephalus; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T03:33:11.945970+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Myoxocephalus polyacanthocephalus (Pallas, 1814)
- Name authority
- (Pallas, 1814)
- Common name
- great sculpin
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Perciformes
- Family
- Cottidae
- Genus
- Myoxocephalus
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderPerciformes
- suborderCottoidei
- familyCottidae Bonaparte, 1831
- genusMyoxocephalus Tilesius, 1811
- speciesMyoxocephalus polyacanthocephalus (Pallas, 1814)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Myoxocephalus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| plain sculpinMyoxocephalus jaok (Cuvier, 1829) | CottidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Myoxocephalus matsubarai Watanabe, 1958 | CottidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Short spined sea scorpionMyoxocephalus scorpius (Linnaeus, 1758) | CottidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Steller's sculpinMyoxocephalus stelleri Tilesius, 1811 | CottidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Tuberculated sculpinMyoxocephalus tuberculatus Soldatov & Pavlenko, 1922 | CottidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Snowy sculpinMyoxocephalus brandtii (Steindachner, 1867) | CottidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| warthead sculpinMyoxocephalus niger (Bean, 1881) | CottidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Okhotsk warty sculpinMyoxocephalus ochotensis Schmidt, 1929 | CottidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| longhorn sculpinMyoxocephalus octodecemspinosus (Mitchill, 1814) | CottidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| fourhorn sculpinMyoxocephalus quadricornis (Linnaeus, 1758) | CottidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Arctic sculpinMyoxocephalus scorpioides (Fabricius, 1780) | CottidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Myoxocephalus sinensis (Sauvage, 1873) | CottidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Ainocottus ensiger Jordan & Starks, 1904 Jordan & Starks, 1904 | synonym |
| Myoxocephalus ensiger (Jordan & Starks, 1904) (Jordan & Starks, 1904) | synonym |
| Cottus polyacanthocephalus Pallas, 1814 Pallas, 1814 | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=254528 Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:456LS. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.