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Perciformes/Cottoidei (Sculpins) >
Cottidae (Sculpins)
Etymology: Icelus: From Icelus = the Morpheus name; mythology.
Eponymy: Katsunori Seki (d: 1954) is a diving photographer at Shiretoko Diving Kikaku. He showed the authors a photograph (1999) of an unidentified sculpin and later helped them obtain specimens. (Ref. 128868), visit book page.
Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range
Ecology
Marine; benthopelagic; depth range ? - 20 m (Ref. 58328). Temperate
Northwest Pacific: Japan.
Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 5.3 cm SL male/unsexed; (Ref. 58328)
Short description
Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics
Dorsal spines (total): 9; Dorsal soft rays (total): 17 - 19; Anal soft rays: 12 - 13; Vertebrae: 36 - 37. Distinguished from its congeners by the following characters: supraocular and parietal spines absent; nuchal spine obscure; uppermost preopercular spine unbranched; no scales between dorsal scale row and lateral line scale row, and no scales below lateral line scale row; supraocular, parietal, and nuchal cirri present; five dark brown saddles dorsolaterally; 13 anal fin rays; 15 pectoral fin rays; vertebrae 12 + 24-25 = 36-37. Male holotype with a secondary sexual character, a unique ensiform flaps on the distal tips of the first dorsal fin (Ref. 58328).
Body shape (shape guide): elongated.
Life cycle and mating behavior
Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae
Tsuruoka, O., H. Munehara and M. Yabe, 2006. A new cottid species, Icelus sekii (Perciformes: Cottoidei), from Hokkaido, Japan.. Ichthyol. Res. 53(1):47-51. (Ref. 58328)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2025-2)
Threat to humans
Harmless
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