Scaled sculpins are a group of small benthic fishes (up to 25 cm) living in cold waters. They are mainly found in the North Pacific, with some species in the North Atlantic. They are characterized by a large, laterally compressed head and small spines. The lateral line

Lateral line

The lateral line is a sense organ in aquatic organisms , used to detect movement and vibration in the surrounding water. Lateral lines are usually visible as faint lines running lengthwise down each side, from the vicinity of the gill covers to the base of the tail...

 is present and the dorsal fin

Dorsal fin

A dorsal fin is a fin located on the backs of various unrelated marine and freshwater vertebrates, including most fishes, marine mammals , and the ichthyosaurs...

 base are dotted with scutes (plates).

In FishBase

FishBase

FishBase is a comprehensive database of information about fish species . It is the largest and most extensively accessed online database on adult finfish on the web...

 and Nelson the genus is included in the family Cottidae

Cottidae

The Cottidae is a family of demersal fish in the order Scorpaeniformes, suborder Cottoidei . There are about 300 species in 70 genera of Cottidae that are mostly marine and found in shallow coastal waters in the northern and arctic regions...

 of sculpin

Sculpin

A Sculpin is a fish that belongs to the order Scorpaeniformes, suborder Cottoidei and superfamily Cottoidea, that contains 11 families, 149 genera, and 756 species...

s but in some classifications it is raised to its own family, Icelidae Berg, 1940.

Species

FishBase

FishBase

FishBase is a comprehensive database of information about fish species . It is the largest and most extensively accessed online database on adult finfish on the web...

 lists sixteen species:

• Icelus armatus (Schmidt, 1916).
• Twohorn sculpin
  Twohorn sculpin
  The twohorn sculpin or two-horned sculpin, Icelus bicornis, is a cold-water benthic fish species of Scorpaeniformes family. It only reaches 6.5 cm in length. It has a thin caudal peduncle, one sharp spine located in front of each eye and two spines behind, hence its common name...
  
  , Icelus bicornis (Reinhardt, 1840).
• Icelus canaliculatus Gilbert, 1896.
• Icelus cataphractus (Pavlenko, 1910).
• Icelus ecornis Tsutsui & Yabe, 1996.
• Icelus euryops Bean
  Tarleton Hoffman Bean
  Tarleton Hoffman Bean was an American ichthyologist, born at Bainbridge, Pennsylvania on 8 October 1846. He died in Albany, New York on 28 December 1916.-FAMILY AND EDUCATION :...
  
  , 1890.
• Icelus gilberti (Jordan
  David Starr Jordan
  David Starr Jordan, Ph.D., LL.D. was a leading eugenicist, ichthyologist, educator and peace activist. He was president of Indiana University and Stanford University.-Early life and education:...
  
   & Starks, 1904).
• Icelus mandibularis Yabe, 1983.
• Icelus ochotensis (Gilbert & Burke, 1912).
• Icelus perminovi Taranetz, 1936.
• Icelus rastrinoides Taranetz, 1936.
• Spatulate sculpin, Icelus spatula Gilbert & Burke, 1912.
• Thorny sculpin, Icelus spiniger Gilbert, 1896.
• Icelus stenosomus Andriashev, 1937.
• Icelus toyamensis (Matsubara & Iwai, 1951).
• Icelus uncinalis Gilbert & Burke, 1912.