Order BERYCIFORMES

COMMENTS
v. 12.0 – 9 Oct. 2024  view/download PDF

8 families · 29 genera · 126 species/subspecies

Family GIBBERICHTHYIDAE Gibberfishes

Gibberichthys Parr 1933    gibber, humped, crooked or protuberant, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to “spiniferous crests” on head of G. pumilus; ichthys, fish

Gibberichthys latifrons (Thorp 1969)    latus, wide; frons, forehead, referring to wider “fleshy interorbital distance” compared to Kasidoron edom, now known to be a prejuvenile stage (and junior synonym) of G. pumilus

Gibberichthys pumilus Parr 1933    dwarfish, described at 31.5 mm SL


Family STEPHANOBERYCIDAE Pricklefishes
4 genera · 4 species

Abyssoberyx Merrett & Moore 2005    abyssos, deep water, referring to the “great depth” from which it had been trawled (4480-4565 m); beryx, a beryciform fish

Abyssoberyx levisquamosus Merrett & Moore 2005    laevis, smooth; squamosus, scaled, referring to its smooth cycloid scales, unlike the spinoid scales of Acanthochaenus, Stephanoberyx and Hispidoberyx (the third genus now placed in its own family, below)

Acanthochaenus Gill 1884    acanthus, spine or thorn; chaenus, gape, presumably referring to “scales with spinous surfaces” and a “cavernous head”

Acanthochaenus luetkenii Gill 1884    patronym not identified, probably in honor of Danish zoologist Christian Frederik Lütken (1827-1901)

Malacosarcus Günther 1887    malacos, soft, probably referring to “very thin” head bones; arcus, bowed, probably referring to arched dorsal profile, high near the head and “rapidly” lowering towards the tail

Malacosarcus macrostoma (Günther 1878)    macro-, large; stoma, mouth, referring to “very wide” cleft of mouth

Stephanoberyx Gill 1883    stephanus, crowned, presumably referring to an “inner U-shaped” osseus ridge on crown of head; beryx, a beryciform fish

Stephanoberyx monae Gill 1883    matronym not identified; according to Jordan & Evermann (1896), in honor of Gill’s niece, Mona


Family HISPIDOBERYCIDAE

Hispidoberyx Kotlyar 1981    hispidus, bristly or rough, referring to vertically protruding spines covering entire body, crest of cephalic bones, and fin rays; beryx, a beryciform fish

Hispidoberyx ambagiosus Kotlyar 1981    enigmatic or ambiguous, referring to its uncertain position within the order


Family RONDELETIIDAE Redmouth Whalefishes

Rondeletia Goode & Bean 1895    ia, belonging to: Guillaume Rondelet (1507-1566), “the French ichthyologist of the seventeenth [sic] century”

Rondeletia bicolor Goode & Bean 1895    two-colored, “purplish-black, with cherry-colored margins to the fins; whitish in spirits” (apparently the orange to reddish-brown color inside mouth and gill cavities, hence the “redmouth” vernacular, was not known at the time)

Rondeletia loricata Abe & Hotta 1963    armored, referring to “remarkably expanded and swollen” bones of pectoral girdle


Family BARBOURISIIDAE Red or Velvet Whalefish

Barbourisia Parr 1945    ia, belonging to: herpetologist and “distinguished naturalist” Thomas Barbour (1884-1946), Director of Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology

Barbourisia rufa Parr 1945    red or reddish, referring to its “bright geranium red” color in life


Family CETOMIMIDAE Flabby Whalefishes
14 genera · 27 species

Ataxolepis Myers & Freihofer 1966    a-, without; taxis, order; lepis, scale, referring to “irregularly arranged, irregularly shaped scales of different sizes covering the body and base of caudal fin in a mosaic-like pattern”

Ataxolepis apus Myers & Freihofer 1966    a-, without; pous, foot, referring to absence of pelvic fins

Ataxolepis henactis Goodyear 1970     henos, one; actis, ray, referring to single pelvic-fin ray (compared to A. apus, which lacks pelvic fins)

Cetichthys Paxton 1989    cetus, whale; ichthys, fish, referring to whale-like body shape and mouth size, and a Greek transliteration of the common name “whalefish”

Cetichthys indagator (Rofen 1959)    Latin for explorer, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to the Galathea Deep-Sea Expedition Round the World (1950-1952), during which type was collected [author previously known as Harry]

Cetichthys parini Paxton 1989    in honor of Nikolai Vasil’evich Parin (1932-2012), Russian Academy of Sciences, who provided Paxton a collection of cetomimids for study, and for his contributions to pelagic and deep-sea ichthyology

Cetomimus Goode & Bean 1895    cetos, whale; mimus, to mimic, “similar in its vertical outline and proportions to that of the right whales (Balænidae), a resemblance which is greatly enhanced by the shape of the enormous mouth, and in the lower jaw strongly curved, projecting slightly beyond the snout”

Cetomimus compunctus Abe, Marumo & Kawaguchi 1965    pricked or pierced, presumably referring to how lateral line is “pierced by fairly large pores”

Cetomimus craneae Harry 1952    in honor of carcinologist Jocelyn Crane (1909-1998), New York Zoological Society, for her work on deep-sea fishes [author later known as Rofen]

Cetomimus gillii Goode & Bean 1895    patronym not identified but almost certainly in honor of Smithsonian zoologist Theodore Gill (1837-1914)

Cetomimus hempeli Maul 1969    in honor of marine biologist and oceanographer Gotthilf Hempel (b. 1929), leader of leg 6 of voyage 9c of the Meteor Seamount-Cruises, during which type was collected

Cetomimus kerdops Parr 1934    kerdos, the wily one, or fox; ops, eye, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to its minute eyes

Cetomimus paxtoni Kobyliansky, Gordeeva & Mishin 2023    in honor of John R. Paxton (b. 1938), Australian Museum (Sydney), a “remarkable” ichthyologist, for his “outstanding” contribution to the study of fishes of the family Cetomimidae

Cetomimus picklei (Gilchrist 1922)    in honor of the South African marine survey ship Pickle, from which type was collected

Cetomimus teevani Harry 1952    in honor of John Tee Van(1897-1967), Director of both the Bronx Zoo and the Coney Island Aquarium in New York City, for his “important part” in the Bermuda Oceanographic Expeditions, during which type was collected; he also made the expeditions’ collections available to Harry and provided “enthusiastic cooperation” in the preparation of his report [author later known as Rofen]

Cetostoma Zugmayer 1914    cetos, whale; stoma, mouth, presumably referring to large, whale-like mouth

Cetostoma regani Zugmayer 1914    in honor of ichthyologist Charles Tate Regan (1878-1943), Natural History Museum (London)

Danacetichthys Paxton 1989    Dana, in honor of the Danish fishery research vessel Dana, referring to the “fine early collection” of 33 whalefishes from the Dana Expeditions now at the University of Copenhagen; cetus, whale and ichthys, a Greek transliteration of the common name “whalefish”

Danacetichthys galathenus Paxton 1989    Greek for young, referring to the apparently immature state of all type specimens

Ditropichthys Parr 1934    di-, two and tropis, keel, referring to pair of thin folds along entire ventral edge of abdomen and/or folds over anal fin; ichthys, fish

Ditropichthys storeri (Goode & Bean 1895)    in honor of physician-naturalist David Humphreys Storer (1804-1891), in appreciation of the “distinguished services of this pioneer in American ichthyology, who began systematic work upon the fauna of the western Atlantic more than half a century ago”

Eutaeniophorus Bertelsen & Marshall 1958    eu-, very; taenia, ribbon; phorus, bearer, referring to several median caudal-fin rays prolonged into a ribbon-like streamer in at least larval and adolescent stages [replacement name for Taeniophorus Bertelsen & Marshall 1956, preoccupied by Taeniophorus Linnavuori 1952 in insects]

Eutaeniophorus festivus (Bertelsen & Marshall 1956)    pleasing or handsome, or joyous or merry, allusion not explained nor evident

Gyrinomimus Parr 1934    gyrinos, tadpole; mimus, imitator or mimic, referring to its broad, depressed, tadpole-like head

Gyrinomimus andriashevi Fedorov, Balushkin & Trunov 1987    in honor of Soviet ichthyologist Anatoly Petrovich Andriashev (1910-2009), a “distinguished authority” (translation) on fishes of the Antarctic (where this species occurs)

Gyrinomimus bruuni Rofen 1959    in honor of Danish oceanographer and ichthyologist Anton Frederick Bruun (1901-1961), leader of the Galathea Deep-Sea Expedition Round the World (1950-1952), during which type was collected, and “foremost investigator” of deep-sea marine life [author previously known as Harry]

Gyrinomimus grahami Richardson & Garrick 1964    in honor of David H. Graham, “veteran” New Zealand ichthyologist and marine biologist

Gyrinomimus myersi Parr 1934    in honor of Stanford University ichthyologist George S. Myers (1905-1985), then at the U.S. National Museum, who furnished Parr with measurements of the type of Cetomimus gillii

Gyrinomimus parri Bigelow 1961    in honor of marine biologist Albert Eide Parr (1900-1991), who proposed the genus in 1934

Megalomycter Myers & Freihofer 1966    megas, large or great; mykter, nose, referring to “great olfactory rosettes,” which cause the snout to appear “unusually swollen”

Megalomycter teevani Myers & Freihofer 1966     in honor of John Tee Van (1897-1967), Director of both the Bronx Zoo and the Coney Island Aquarium in New York City, for his work as the assistant to deep-sea explorer William Beebe (who collected type) and for “his many years of friendly help to ichthyology and ichthyologists”

Mirapinna Bertelsen & Marshall 1956    mirus, wonderful or strange; pinna, fin, presumably referring to large and fan-shaped pelvic fins, each one with a “well developed muscular base forming a well-knit ventral unit with its partner, the pelvic bones fusing or being coupled by connective tissue but having no linkage with pectoral girdle”

Mirapinna esau Bertelsen & Marshall 1956    etymology not explained, presumably named for Esau, mentioned in the Book of Genesis and noted for his hairiness (his name is derived from the Arabic isaw, meaning rough or hairy), referring to “dense pile of hair-like outgrowths” covering nearly entire body [postlarva of Procetichthys kreffti 1989, which was thought to represent a separate species until 2009]

Notocetichthys Balushkin, Fedorov & Paxton 1989    noto, southern, referring to Antarctic occurrence of type specimens; cetus, whale and ichthys, a Greek transliteration of the common name “whalefish”, i.e., a southern whalefish

Notocetichthys trunovi Balushkin, Fedorov & Paxton 1989    in honor of ichthyologist Ivan Andreevich Trunov (1936-2005), Atlantic Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography, who collected the two type specimens

Parataeniophorus Bertelsen & Marshall 1956    para-, near, referring to its similarity to and/or close relationship with Taeniophorus (=Eutaeniophorus)

Parataeniophorus brevis Bertelsen & Marshall 1956    brevis, presumably referring to its shorter body length compared to P. gulosus, now recognized as a larval form of Cetostoma regani

Rhamphocetichthys Paxton 1989    rhamphos, curved beak, referring to its beak-like snout; cetus, whale and ichthys, a Greek transliteration of the common name “whalefish”

Rhamphocetichthys savagei Paxton 1989    in honor of herpetologist Jay M. Savage (b. 1928), University of Southern California, who gave Paxton “opportunity and encouragement as a student” and developed the midwater trawling program which collected two paratypes, for his contributions in biology

Vitiaziella Rass 1955    iella, diminutive connoting endearment: Russian research vessel Vitiaz (also spelled Vityaz), from which type was collected

Vitiaziella cubiceps Rass 1955    cubus, cube; ceps, head, referring to its blunt, cube-shaped head


Family MELAMPHAIDAE Bigscales
5 genera · 79 species/subspecies

Melamphaes Günther 1864    mela-, black; amphaes, from amphi-, around, presumably referring to “entirely black” color of M. typhlops

Melamphaes acanthomus Ebeling 1962    acanthus, spine; omos, shoulder, referring to its antrorse post-temporal spines

Melamphaes brachysomus Kimura, Kawai & Aungtonya 2019    brachy, short; soma, body, referring to its relatively short and stout body

Melamphaes contradictorius Kotlyar 2015    contradictory, presumably referring to how its characters “contradict” those of closely related species of the M. longivelis complex

Melamphaes danae Ebeling 1962    in honor of the Danish fishery research vessel Dana, from which type was collected, “in honor of her scientific party and crew, who, by compiling and interpreting vast quantities of facts concerning the biology, physics, and chemistry of the oceans, have contributed much more than their share to the establishment of the science of biological oceanography”

Melamphaes ebelingi Keene 1973    in honor of Alfred W. Ebeling (1931-2022), University of California (Santa Barbara), for his “outstanding” contributions to the knowledge of the family Melamphaidae and to the ecology of deep-sea fishes

Melamphaes eulepis Ebeling 1962    eu-, well or very; lepis, scale, referring to its “intact squamation” (scales usually missing on congeners) and its “palate-like, sculptured” opercular scales

Melamphaes eurous Kotlyar 2016    eastern, referring to its distribution in the eastern Pacific Ocean

Melamphaes falsidicus Kotlyar 2011    falsifying, referring to previous mistakes made in its identification, which led to its being classified as M. microps

Melamphaes hubbsi Ebeling 1962    in honor of ichthyologist Carl L. Hubbs (1894-1979), for his broad interests in oceanography and the systematics of pelagic fishes (Hubbs also served as chair of Ebeling’s doctoral committee, suggested this line of research, advised on and corrected the manuscript, and gathered data on type specimens from Europe)

Melamphaes inconspicuus Kotlyar 2015    imperceptible or inconspicuous, referring to how previous specimens of this species were probably attributed to M. longivelis by mistake

Melamphaes indicus Ebeling 1962    Indian, referring to its distribution mainly in the Indo-Pacific (Madagascar east to Hawaiian Islands and Central America)

Melamphaes janae Ebeling 1962    in honor of Ebeling’s wife, Jan, who sorted the first specimens of this species from collections made during the Scripps Institution of Oceanography Eastropic Expedition

Melamphaes kobylyanskyi Kotlyar 2015    in honor of friend and colleague Stanislav Genrikhovich Kobylyansky, Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, a “famous” (translation) researcher of mesopelagic animals who provided Kotlyar with melamphaid fishes collected on cruise 29 of the Akademik Ioffee research vessel

Melamphaes laeviceps Ebeling 1962    laevis, smooth; ceps, head, referring to the “trim contours” of its “smoothly sculptured” head

Melamphaes lentiginosus Kotlyar 2015    freckled, referring to black dotted spots of pigment on head, body and fins of young and semi-adult specimens

Melamphaes leprus Ebeling 1962    rough, referring to its relatively coarse-ridged spines

Melamphaes longivelis Parr 1933    longus, long; velum, sail, proposed as a subspecies of M. microps with a “slightly higher dorsal fin count”

Melamphaes lugubris Gilbert 1890    mournful or dark, presumably referring to uniform brownish-black body with dusky fins

Melamphaes macrocephalus Parr 1931    macro-, large; cephalus, head, referring to its “very large” head, 2-2⅔ times in SL

Melamphaes manifestus Kotlyar 2011    Latin for remarkable, obvious or easily defined, allusion not explained (nor obvious), possibly referring to its bigger head and larger eyes compared to M. microps

Melamphaes microps (Günther 1878)    micro-, small; ops, eye, ⅐ length of head and more than ½ length of snout

Melamphaes nikolayi Kotlyar 2012    in honor of Kotlyar’s father, Nikolay Efimovich Kotlyar (1908-1994)

Melamphaes occlusus Kotlyar 2012    hidden or concealed, referring to how it was possibly included into the composition of another species, M. microps

Melamphaes pachystomus Kotlyar 2011    pachys, thick; stomus, body, referring to its stout body shape

Melamphaes papavereus Kotlyar 2016    eus, adjectival suffix: papaver, poppy, referring to small dotted pigments on body and fins, which resemble poppy seeds

Melamphaes parini Kotlyar 1999    in honor of the “well-known” (translation) ichthyologist Nikolai Vasil’evich Parin (1932-2012), Russian Academy of Sciences

Melamphaes parvus Ebeling 1962     small, referring to its relatively small size compared to sympatric congeners

Melamphaes polylepis Ebeling 1962    poly, many; lepis, scale, referring to relatively large number of horizontal and oblique scale rows

Melamphaes proximus Kotlyar 2015    nearest or closest, referring to its close relation to the Atlantic M. longivelis

Melamphaes pumilus Ebeling 1962    dwarfish, referring to small size of adults (18.0-22.5 mm)

Melamphaes shcherbachevi Kotlyar 2015    in honor of friend and colleague Yuri Nikolayevich Shcherbachev, Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, “famous” (translation) researcher of deep-sea fauna

Melamphaes simus Ebeling 1962    pug-nosed, referring to the “fancied flat or pug-nosed appearance rendered by the raised antorbital ridge”

Melamphaes spinifer Ebeling 1962    spinus, spine; –ifer, to bear, referring to enlarged spines on preopercle

Melamphaes suborbitalis (Gill 1883)    sub-, below; orbitus, orbit, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to end of maxillary reaching to below hind margin of orbit

Melamphaes succedaneus Kotlyar 2015    translated from Latin into Russian as “replacing,” referring to how it replaces in the eastern Pacific Ocean closely related species of the M. longivelis complex from the Indian Ocean and western Pacific [missspelled succedanaus in title of English translation

Melamphaes typhlops (Lowe 1843)    typhlos, blind; ops, eye, presumably referring to its minute eyes (“oculu minuti”)

Melamphaes uniformis Kotlyar 2013    Latin for uniform (i.e., simple), referring to its external similarity to other species of the genus and monochrome coloration of the holotype

Melamphaes xestoachidus Kotlyar 2011    xestos, smoothed; achidus, spined, referring to absence of spur on haemal arch of first caudal vertebrae

Poromitra Goode & Bean 1883    poros, hole; mitra, mitre or peaked cap; according to Goode & Bean (1896), name means with “openings in its shields,” referring to “central depression in each round, concentrically-grooved scale” of P. capito (apparently the cycloid scales, or “shields,” reminded the authors of conical peaked caps; Jordan & Evermann [1896] translate mitra as stomacher, a V-shaped piece of decorative cloth worn over chest and stomach, but we fail to see how that interpretation could apply)

Poromitra agafonovae Kotlyar 2009    in honor of Tat’yana Borisovna Agafonova (1950-2004), friend and research colleague, for her contribution to the study of open-ocean fishes, particularly the family Nomeidae; in addition, she and Kotlyar collaborated on the monograph Commercial Fishes of Russia (2006)

Poromitra atlantica (Norman 1929)    ica, belonging to: the Atlantic, described from the South Atlantic (also occurs in southeastern Indian Ocean and southwestern Pacific)

Poromitra capito Goode & Bean 1883    large-headed, referring to its “very large” head, nearly as long as trunk in young specimens

Poromitra coronata (Gilchrist & von Bonde 1924)    crowned, referring to “crenulated crown-like crest” on head and above eye

Poromitra crassa Parin & Ebeling 1980    thick, fat or stout, referring to its body shape

Poromitra crassiceps (Günther 1878)    crassus, fat or stout; ceps, head, described as “very thick, with short snout”

Poromitra cristiceps (Gilbert 1890)    crista, crown; ceps, head, referring to well-developed system of mucous canals on head, “their margins raised into high this crests”

Poromitra curilensis Kotlyar 2008    ensis, suffix denoting place: referring to its distribution not far from the Kuril Islands of the Russian Far East

Poromitra decipiens Kotlyar 2008    delusive, referring to how it is easily confused with the closely related P. crassiceps

Poromitra frontosa (Garman 1899)    with a broad head, referring to its “massive” head

Poromitra gibbsi Parin & Borodulina 1989    in honor of the late Robert H. Gibbs, Jr. (1929-1988), U.S. National Museum, “one of the foremost authorities on mesopelagic ichthyofauna” (translation)

Poromitra glochidiata Kotlyar 2008    barbed, referring to hook-like spinules on preoperculum

Poromitra indooceanica Kotlyar 2008    ica, belonging to: Indian Ocean, where it occurs in the subtropical zone

Poromitra jucunda Kotlyar 2010    attractive or pleasant, allusion not explained nor evident

Poromitra kukuevi Kotlyar 2008    in honor of Russian ichthyologist Yefim Izrailevich Kukuev (b. 1947), for his contributions to the study of deep-sea fishes

Poromitra macrophthalma (Gilchrist 1903)    macro-, large; ophthalmus, eye, its diameter ½ height of body and nearly two times in length of head

Poromitra megalops (Lütken 1878)    mega-, large; ops, eye, referring to its larger eyes compared to Melamphaes typhlops, its presumed congener at the time

Poromitra nigriceps (Zugmayer 1911)    nigro-, black; ceps, head, allusion not explained but clearly referring to its large black head

Poromitra nigrofulva (Garman 1899)    nigro-, black; fulvus, brownish yellow, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to its brown-yellow color in life and black color in alcohol

Poromitra oscitans Ebeling 1975    yawning or listless, referring to the “presumed sluggish nature of this large-mouthed fish”

Poromitra rugosa (Chapman 1939)    rough or wrinkled (rugose), referring to “rough and spinous nature” of head

Poromitra unicornis (Gilbert 1905)    uni-, one; cornis, horn, referring to a slender horn-like spine arising from middle of snout above nostrils, directed vertically upwards

Scopeloberyx Zugmayer 1911    Scopelus, an old name of some large-eyed fish, from scopus, to look, historically applied to lanternfishes and other pelagic or deep-sea fishes with large eyes, here referring to “slightly compressed and scopeliform” (translation) body shape of S. opercularis; beryx, a beryciform fish

Scopeloberyx bannikovi Kotlyar 2004    in honor of Russian ichthyopaleontologist Aleksandr Fedorovich Bannikov (b. 1954), Russian Academy of Sciences, who “repeatedly rendered [Kotlyar] invaluable aid in his investigations” (translation)

Scopeloberyx malayanus malayanus (Weber 1913)    anus, belonging to: Malay Archipelago, where Manipa Strait, type locality, is situated

Scopeloberyx malayanus balushkini Kotlyar 2004    in honor of “prominent” Russian ichthyologist Arkadii Vladimirovich Balushkin (1948-2021), Russian Academy of Sciences, whose numerous publication on sytematics of oceanic fishes of the Southern Hemisphere are “well known in Russia and abroad” (translation)

Scopeloberyx maxillaris (Garman 1899)    presumably referring to maxillary “more than half as long as the head, reaching one diameter of the orbit farther backward than the latter”

Scopeloberyx microlepis (Norman 1937)    micro-, small; lepis, referring to its smaller scales compared to S. opisthopterus

Scopeloberyx opercularis Zugmayer 1911    presumably referring to operculum bearing a pointed membranous extension supported by an outgrowth of the opercular bone

Scopeloberyx opisthopterus (Parr 1933)    opistho-, behind; pterus, fin, referring to “very posterior” insertion of ventral fins

Scopeloberyx pequenoi Kotlyar 2004    in honor of ichthyologist German Pequeño R. (b. 1941), Universidad Austral de Chile, a “great expert” in the ichthyofauna of the southeastern Pacific Ocean (translation)

Scopeloberyx robustus (Günther 1887)    stout, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to its “thick” head

Scopeloberyx rossicus Kotlyar 2004    Russian, referring to its distribution in the Far East marine waters of Russia

Scopeloberyx rubriventer (Koefoed 1953)    rubri-, red; venter, belly, referring to a “red tinge” from base of pectoral fin towards anus

Scopeloberyx shakhovskoyi Kotlyar 2024.   in honor of Ilya Borisovich Shakhovskoy, P. P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology (Moscow), a “great expert in flying fishes of the World Ocean” and Kotlyar’s colleague for many years

Scopelogadus Vaillant 1888    combining the form of a Scopelus (=Myctophum, Myctophidae) with thoracic ventral fins like a Gadus, or cod

Scopelogadus beanii (Günther 1887)    in honor of ichthyologist Tarleton H. Bean (1846-1916), U.S. National Museum, who described this species as Plectromus crassiceps in 1885, secondarily preoccupied by Scopelus (now Promitra) crassiceps Günther 1878 when Günther placed both in Melamphaes

Scopelogadus bispinosus (Gilbert 1915)    bi-, two; spinosus, spiny, referring to two spinous rays in dorsal fin

Scopelogadus mizolepis (Günther 1878)    mizon, greater; lepis, scale; although scales were missing on the specimen Günther examined, he surmised they were of an “unusually large size”

Scopelogadus multilamellatus Kotlyar 2021    multi-, many; lamellatus, lamellated or laminated, referring to larger number of pseudobranchial filaments (9-11) compared with S. mizolepis, S. bispinosus and S. beanii (2-8)

Scopelogadus perplexus Kotlyar 2021    confusing or ambiguous, referring to how it had been misidentified as S. mizolepis and S. bispinosus

Scopelogadus unispinis Ebeling & Weed 1963    uni-, one; spinosus, spiny, referring to single spinous ray of dorsal fin

Sio Moss 1962    “an arbitrary combination of letters, neuter in gender” (note: of the 34 specimens that Woods examined, five were from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, whose official abbreviation is SIO)

Sio nordenskjoldii (Lönnberg 1905)    in honor of Lönnberg’s friend Otto Nordenskjöld (1869-1928), Finnish-Swedish geologist, geographer and polar explorer, who led expedition that collected type


Family BERYCIDAE Alfonsinos
2 genera · 10 species

Beryx Cuvier 1829    beryx or berys, a Greek name for an indeterminate species of fish, which Cuvier chose to apply to a “peculiar family of perch” (translation)

Beryx decadactylus Cuvier 1829    deci-, ten; daktylos, finger, referring to 10 soft rays of the ventral fins

Beryx mollis Abe 1959    soft, referring to its “softer flesh” compared to both congeners

Beryx splendens Lowe 1834    glowing, presumably referring to its bright-red coloration

Centroberyx Gill 1862    kentron, thorn or spine, allusion not explained, presumably referring to spines on any or all of the following: lower mandibular, inferior exposed surface of branchiostegals, operculum, and suboperculum; Beryx, type genus of family

Centroberyx affinis (Günther 1859)    related, described as “closely allied” to C. lineatus

Centroberyx australis Shimizu & Hutchins 1987    southern, referring to its distribution in southern Australian waters

Centroberyx druzhinini (Busakhin 1981)    in honor of “well-known” (translation) ichthyologist Anatoly Dmitrievich Druzhinin (1926-1979), All-Russian Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography (VNIRO)

Centroberyx gerrardi (Günther 1887)    patronym not identified, probably in honor of Edward Gerrard (1810-1910), taxidermist, British Museum, where Günther worked

Centroberyx lineatus (Cuvier 1829)    lined, referring to reddish scale edges that form narrow horizontal lines along the sides

Centroberyx rubricaudus Liu & Shen 1985    rubrus, red; caudus, tail, referring to red caudal fin

Centroberyx spinosus (Gilchrist 1903)    spiny, presumably referring to spines on any or all of the following: lower mandibular, inferior exposed surface of branchiostegals, operculum, and suboperculum