The roughback sculpin was first formally described as Artedius pugetensis in 1876 by the Austrian ichthyologist Franz Steindachner with its type locality given as Fox Island near Steilacom, northern Puget Sound and San Francisco.

[2] In 1879 the English zoologist, and curator of the California Academy of Sciences, William Neale Lockington proposed the monospecific genus Chitonotus for the roughback sculpin.

[2] The roughback sculpin's genus name, Chitonotus, is a combuination of chiton, meaning an "outer coat" or a "coat of mail", and notos, meaning back, referring to the ctenoid scales on its upper body which give it a rough feeling.

[5] The roughback sculpin has body which is elongated and tapers towards the tail, with a near complete covering of large scales.

[6] The maximum published total length is 23 cm (9.1 in)>[1] The roughback sculpin is found in the eastern Pacific Ocean where it occurs along the western coast of North America from Bahia Santa Maria in Baja California Sur, Mexico,[6] north to Trail Island in the Wark Channel of British Columbia and, probably, also in southeastern Alaska.