Fig. 387.—Elanura forficata Gilbert. Bering Sea.
Fig. 388.—Yellowstone Miller's Thumb, Cottus punctulatus (Gill). Yellowstone River.
The genera Cottus and Uranidea include the miller's thumbs, also called in America, blob and muffle-jaws, of the Northern rivers. These little fishes are found in Europe, Asia, and America wherever trout are found. They lurk under weeds and stones, moving with the greatest swiftness when disturbed. They are found in every cold stream of the region north of Virginia, and they vie with the sticklebacks in their destruction of the eggs and fry of salmon and trout. Cottus gobio is the commonest species of Europe. Cottus ictalops is the most abundant of the several species of the eastern United States, and Cottus asper in streams of the Pacific Coast, though very many other species exist in each of these regions. The genus Uranidea is found in America. It is composed of smaller species with fewer teeth and fin-rays, the ventrals I, 3. Uranidea gracilis is the commonest of these, the miller's thumb of New England. Rheopresbe fujiyamæ is a large river sculpin in Japan.
Fig. 389.—Miller's Thumb, Uranidea tenuis Evermann & Meek. Klamath Falls.
Fig. 390.—Cottus evermanni Gilbert. Lost River, Oregon.
Trachidermus ansatus is another river species, the "mountain-witch" (yamanokami) of Japan, remarkable for a scarlet brand on its cheek, conspicuous in life.
The chief genus of Atlantic sculpins is Myoxocephalus, containing large marine species, in structure much like the species of Cottus. Myoxocephalus bubalis is the European fatherlasher, or proach; the European sculpin is Myoxocephalus scorpius. The very similar daddy sculpin of New England is Myoxocephalus grœnlandicus. This species swarms everywhere from Cape Cod northward.