Cottus perifretum Freyhof, Kottelat & Nolte, 2005
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
Cottus perifretum, the bullhead or miller's thumb, is a species of freshwater ray-finned fish belonging to the family Cottidae, the typical sculpins. It is found on both sides of the English Channel, native to Great Britain. It also inhabits Atlantic drainages from the Garonne River (tributaries draining from Massif Central) to the Scheldt in France and Belgium, and the Moselle and Sieg in Germany. It is considered invasive in the Rhine drainage in Germany and the Netherlands. This invasive population in the Rhine is an intermediate between this species and Cottus rhenanus. Although this species is native to England and Wales it is considered to be a non-native invasive species in Scotland. This species was described as a separate species from the European bullhead (C. gobio) in 2005 by Jörg Freyhof, Maurice Kottelat and Arne W. Nolte. The specific name perifretum is a combination of peri, meaning "around", and fretum, meaning "straits", an allusion to the species distribution on either side of the English Channel, called Fretum Gallicum in Latin.
Wikipedia contributors, Cottus perifretum; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T19:25:36.206207+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Cottus perifretum Freyhof, Kottelat & Nolte, 2005
- Name authority
- Freyhof, Kottelat & Nolte, 2005
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Perciformes
- Family
- Cottidae
- Genus
- Cottus
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: no · Freshwater: yes · 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
- genusCottus Linnaeus, 1758
- speciesCottus perifretum Freyhof, Kottelat & Nolte, 2005
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Cottus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Cottus pollux Günther, 1873 | CottidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| shorthead sculpinCottus confusus Bailey & Bond, 1963 | CottidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Cottus chattahoochee Neely, Williams & Mayden, 2007 | CottidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Cottus ohmiensis Watanabe, 1960 | CottidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| coastrange sculpinCottus aleuticus Gilbert, 1896 | CottidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| prickly sculpinCottus asper Richardson, 1836 | CottidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Cottus baileyi Robins, 1961 | CottidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| mottled sculpinCottus bairdii Girard, 1850 | CottidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Cottus beldingii Eigenmann & Eigenmann, 1891 | CottidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Cottus bendirei (Bean, 1881) | CottidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Cottus czerskii Berg, 1913 | CottidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Cottus dzungaricus Kottelat, 2006 | CottidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
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.
- Freyhof, J., Kottelat, M., & Nolte, A. (2005). Taxonomic diversity of European Cottus with description of eight new species (Teleostei: Cottidae). Ichthyol. Explor. Freshwat., 16. 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:YYK4. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.