Phasmatocottus is a monospecific genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Cottidae, the "typical" sculpins.

[2][3] The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies this genus within the subfamily Cottinae of the family Cottidae,[4] however, other authors classify the genus within the subfamily Psychrolutinae of the family Psychrolutidae.

[2] Phasmatocottus prefixes the name of the type genus of the Cottidae, Cottus with phasma, which means "ghost" or "spectre", Bolin did not explain what this alluded to.

[5] Phasmatocottus h as a rather compressed body with a largely ovoid cross section.

[7] Phasmatocottus Is found in the northwestern Pacific Ocean where it has been recorded on two occasions, the first was the collection of the holotype in Sendai Bay and the second was in 2001 off Iturup Island in the Kurils.