Oligocottus

Oligocottus is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Psychrolutidae, the marine sculpins. These sculpins are found in the northern and eastern Pacific Ocean.

==Taxonomy== Oligocottus was first proposed as a monospecific genus in 1856 by the French biologist Charles Frédéric Girard when he described Oligocottus maculosus from Tomales Bay, San Francisco, California. The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies this genus within the subfamily Cottinae of the family Cottidae, however, other authors classify the genus within the subfamily Oligocottinae of the family Psychrolutidae. The genus has been found to be a monophyletic grouping with the saddleback sculpin as the more basal of the four species with the other three species creating a polytomy.