The Red Irish Lord is a member of the sculpins, a large "superfamily" of fish known for their spinyand sometimes poisonous fins. Hemilepidotus means "half-scaled," and refers to the two dinstinct scale bands that help differentiate this fish from other sculpins. Despite the common name, red Irish lords came in many colors and patterns, including black, white and brown, and blotchy.

Red Irish lords can be found in the eastern Pacific from Kamchatka, Russia to Monterey Bay, Calif., at depths of as much as 450m. They live on hermit and tanner crabs, small fish, worms, crustaceans.

Adults can reach 20 inches in length and typically live about six years.

Red Irish Lords gather in spawning areas once a season. It is likely that the same pairs return to the same spawning areas year after year. The fish guard their pinkish eggs in their rocky, high-current beds until they hatch.