It is found in the northeastern Pacific Ocean from Alaska south to Washington and the San Juan Islands.

The spinynose sculpin is the only species in the monospecific genus Asemichthys.

[2] The spinynose sculpin was first formally described as Radulinus taylori in 1912 by the American ichthyologists David Starr Jordan and Charles Henry Gilbert.

[3] In the same year Gilbert reclassified this species in the monospecific genus Asemichthys.

[4] The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies the genus Asemichthys within the subfamily Cottinae of the family Cottidae,[5] however, other authors classify the genus within the subfamily Radulininae of the family Psychrolutidae.