butterfish
Pholis gunnellus (Linnaeus, 1758)
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.
Rock gunnel Philus gunnellus
Jack Sewell · CC BY 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 320 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The rock gunnel (Pholis gunnellus), or butterfish, is a species of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Pholidae, the gunnels. This species is found in the coastal waters of the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Atlantic part of the Arctic Ocean.
Wikipedia contributors, Rock gunnel; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T02:39:17.819551+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Pholis gunnellus (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Name authority
- (Linnaeus, 1758)
- Common name
- butterfish
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Perciformes
- Family
- Pholidae
- Genus
- Pholis
- 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
- suborderZoarcoidei
- familyPholidae Gill, 1893
- genusPholis Scopoli, 1777
- speciesPholis gunnellus (Linnaeus, 1758)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Pholis. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| longfin gunnelPholis clemensi Rosenblatt, 1964 | PholidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Pholis crassispina (Temminck & Schlegel, 1845) | PholidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Pholis fangi (Wang & Wang, 1935) | PholidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| saddleback gunnelPholis ornata (Girard, 1854) | PholidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Painted gunnelPholis picta (Kner, 1868) | PholidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| banded gunnelPholis fasciata (Bloch & Schneider, 1801) | PholidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| crescent gunnelPholis laeta (Cope, 1873) | PholidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Pholis nea Peden & Hughes, 1984 | PholidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Tidepool gunnelPholis nebulosa (Temminck & Schlegel, 1845) | PholidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| red gunnelPholis schultzi Schultz, 1931 | PholidaeChordata | 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 |
|---|---|
| Gunnellus affinis Reinhardt, 1837 Reinhardt, 1837 | synonym |
| Ophidion imberbe Linnaeus, 1758 Linnaeus, 1758 | synonym |
| Pholis gunellus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Linnaeus, 1758) | synonym |
| Blennius gunnellus Linnaeus, 1758 Linnaeus, 1758 | synonym |
| Centronotus gunnellus (Linnaeus, 1758) (Linnaeus, 1758) | synonym |
| Gunnellus macrocephalus Girard, 1850 Girard, 1850 | synonym |
| Blennius europaeus Olafsen, 1772 Olafsen, 1772 | synonym |
| Gunnellus cornubiensium Seba, 1759 Seba, 1759 | synonym |
| Muraenoides guttata Yarrell, 1836 Yarrell, 1836 | synonym |
| Muraenoides sujef Lacepède, 1800 Lacepède, 1800 | synonym |
| Gunnellus vulgaris Fleming, 1828 Fleming, 1828 | synonym |
| Gunnellus ingens Storer, 1850 Storer, 1850 | synonym |
| Ophidium mucronatum Mitchill, 1815 Mitchill, 1815 | synonym |
| Ophidium fulvescens Rafinesque, 1810 Rafinesque, 1810 | synonym |
| Blennius muraenoides Zuiew, 1779 Zuiew, 1779 | 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=126996 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.
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:4GMHZ. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.