Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various marine and freshwater fishes chiefly of the family Cottidae, having a large flattened head with spines, few or no scales, and often fanlike pectoral fins.
  • noun A scorpionfish (Scorpaena guttata) of California coastal waters.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A callionymoid fish, Callionymus lyra, having at the angle of the preoperculum a strong compressed dentate spine; a dragonet: more fully called yellow sculpin. See dragonet, 2, and cut under Callionymus.
  • noun A mean or mischief-making fellow.
  • noun A cottoid fish, especially of the genus Cottus (or Acanthocottus), as C. scorpius of the northern Atlantic; C. grœnlandicus, the daddysculpin; C. æneus, the grubby of the New England and New York coasts.
  • noun A hemitripteroid fish, Hemitripterus acadianus, occurring in deeper water than the true sculpins off the northeastern coast of America. Also called deep-water sculpin, yellow sculpin, and sea-raven. See cut under sea-raven.
  • noun A scorpænoid fish, Scorpæna guttata, of the southern Californian coast, there called scorpene. See cut under Scorpæna.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Any one of numerous species of marine cottoid fishes of the genus Cottus, or Acanthocottus, having a large head armed with several sharp spines, and a broad mouth. They are generally mottled with yellow, brown, and black. Several species are found on the Atlantic coasts of Europe and America.
  • noun A large cottoid market fish of California (Scorpænichthys marmoratus); -- called also bighead, cabezon, scorpion, salpa.
  • noun The dragonet, or yellow sculpin, of Europe (Callionymus lyra).
  • noun the sea raven.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A small fish of the family Cottidae, usually lacking scales. Often found on river bottoms and in tidal pools.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any of numerous spiny large-headed usually scaleless scorpaenoid fishes with broad mouths

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Origin unknown.]

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word sculpin.

Examples

  • I wuz wid yer gran'pa at Fort Mimms, down erbout Mobile, an 'I seed 'em killin' folks an 'sculpin' uv 'em; an, mo'n dat, ef'n I hadn't er crope under er log, an 'flattent myse'f out like er allergator, dey'd er got me; an' den, ergin, dey don't talk like no folks.

    Diddi, Dumps, and Tot 1882

  • I wuz wid yer gran'pa at Fort Mimms, down erbout Mobile, an 'I seed 'em killin' folks an 'sculpin' uv 'em; an, mo'n dat, ef'n I hadn't er crope under er log, an 'flattent myse'f out like er allergator, dey'd er got me; an' den, ergin, dey don't talk like no folks.

    Diddie, Dumps, and Tot : Or, Plantation Child-Life Louise Clarke Pyrnelle 1878

  • Conehead pine squirrel sculpin would have to be my choice.

    What's your favorite fly? 2009

  • Most of the time, olive, sculpin, brown or black will work better than lighter colors.

    All About Jigs 2009

  • Conehead pine squirrel sculpin would have to be my choice.

    What's your favorite fly? 2009

  • Colors - white has been the best by far but should have an olive, sculpin, purple, black or brown/orange ready just in case.

    Lake Taneycomo 2009

  • Seems that Lake Michigan gobie population densities are increasing, while alewife and sculpin populations are decreasing, with overall prey fish populations decreasing, affecting salmon, steelhead, and lake trout.

    Over the years I have seen what was once a florishing ecosystem of fish survive. 2009

  • So our moss green or olive jigs, as well as sculpin (olive/brown), brown and blacks match the color of sculpin quite well.

    All About Jigs 2009

  • Seems that Lake Michigan gobie population densities are increasing, while alewife and sculpin populations are decreasing, with overall prey fish populations decreasing, affecting salmon, steelhead, and lake trout.

    Over the years I have seen what was once a florishing ecosystem of fish survive. 2009

  • Then I try black, sculpin/peach, purple, brown and brown/orange in that order.

    All About Jigs 2009

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • "The sculpin, or 'bullhead,' as the people of Savoonga called the fish, were yellowish green and black, about ten inches long, with bloated, oversized heads."

    —James Campbell, The Final Frontiersman (New York and London: Atria Books, 2004), 93

    September 17, 2008

  • See this languagehat post: sculpin

    June 26, 2009

  • sculpin

    October 25, 2009