Melletes papilio Bean, 1880 The butterfly sculpin (Hemilepidotus papillon) is a species of fish in the family Agonidae.

[4] The butterfly sculpin is reddish brown, yellow and white in color, with a metallic gold sheen.

[8] The butterfly sculpin lives in benthopelagic marine environments of the northern Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk, in sandy or silty flat areas.

[8] Butterfly sculpins are predators feeding on gammarid amphipods, crabs, ostracods and small fish such as juvenile Alaska pollock.

They are oviparous laying benthic eggs which hatch into pelagic larvae which settle on the substrate as juveniles at a minimum length of 4 cm (1.6 in).