Clinocottus embryum was first formally described as Oligocottus embryum in 1895 by the American ichthyologists David Starr Jordan and Edwin Chapin Starks with its type locality given as "Several miles east of Neah Bay, Washington".

[4] The specific name, embryum, means "in moss", an allusion Jordan and Starks did not explain but may be a reference to this species being found in tidal pools among algae.

[1] Clinocottus embryum is found in the eastern Pacific along the western coast of North America from the Bering Sea coast in Alaska to northern Baja California.

This demersal species is found in rocky areas in the middle of the intertidal zone.

[7] This species has been found to be the host of the digenean endoparasites Lecithaster salmonis and Derogenes varicus.