Zesticelus is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Cottidae, the typical sculpins.

Zesticelus was first proposed as a monospecific genus in 1896 by the American ichthyologists David Starr Jordan and Barton Warren Evermann with Acanthocottus profundorum designated as its type species.

[1] A. profundorum was originally described in 1896 by Charles Henry Gilbert who gave its type locality as the Bering Sea north of Unalaska Island.

The branchiostegal membranes that are united and old over the isthmus, There are large pores in the sensory canals on the head, The highest spine on the preoperculum is long and slightly curved.

[5] These are small fishes with the largest species, Z. profundorum, having a maximum published total length of 6.4 cm (2.5 in).