ABSTRACT
The family Psychrolutidae, established by Günther (1861), is comprised of eight genera and between 32 and 40 valid species (Eschmeyer 1998; Jackson & Nelson 1998). Adults have a large head, a short tadpole like body, and moveable skin over a clear gelatinous layer (Mecklenburg et al. 2002). Psychrolutids show similarities to cottids and cyclopterids, which led some authors to consider psychrolutids a subfamily of Cottidae. Nelson (1982), however, recognized the family Psychrolutidae based on several unique characters, and using a cladistic analysis, Jackson & Nelson (1998) identified five syapomorphies including characters associated with cranial sensory canals, cranial osteology and pectoral girdle osteology. Further, Jackson & Nelson (1998) organized the 8 known genera into five sub-families: Dasycottinae (Dasycottus), Eurymeninae (Eurymen), Cottunculinae (Ambophthalmos, and Cottunculus), Malacocottinae (Malacocottus), and Psychrolutinae (Ebinania, Neophrynichthys, and Psychrolutes).
