Revised 27 Feb. 2023
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Coloconger Alcock 1889 colo-, from kólos (Gr. κόλος), shortened or curtailed, referring to stubby body and short tail of C. raniceps; conger, Latin for a marine eel but in this case referring to its presumed close affinity with Conger (Congridae)

Coloconger cadenati Kanazawa 1961 in honor of French ichthyologist Jean Cadenat (1908–1992), Director, Marine Biological Section of the Institut Français d’Afrique Noire (Gorée, Senegal), who supplied holotype

Coloconger canina (Castle & Raju 1975) Latin for canine or like a dog, referring to the shape of its snout

Coloconger eximia (Castle 1967) Latin for exceptional, uncommon or extraordinary, presumably referring to its “remarkably large” size for a leptocephalus (only larval forms are known), and/or to its laterally compressed body, “giving the impression of a broad, flat tape”

Coloconger japonicus Machida 1984 -icus (L.), belonging to: Japan, referring to Okinawa Trough, type locality, between Japan and Taiwan in the South China Sea

Coloconger maculatus Ho & Tang 2021 Latin for spotted, referring to distinct black blotch on posterior portion of tail

Coloconger meadi Kanazawa 1957 in honor of American ichthyologist Giles W. Mead (1928–2003), who sent holotype to Kanazawa

Coloconger raniceps Alcock 1889 rana (L.), frog; -ceps (Neo-Latin), headed, referring to its “massive, frog-like” head

Coloconger saldanhai Quéro 2001 in honor of Portuguese ichthyologist Luiz Saldanha (1937–1997, in a memorial volume commemorating his contributions to marine biology); Saldanha collaborated with Quéro and co-discovered this eel

Coloconger scholesi Chan 1967 in honor of Patrick Scholes (ca. 1946–2011), Fisheries Laboratory, Lowestoft, England, for his contributions to the fishery survey program in the South China Sea

Derichthys Gill 1884 dérē (Gr. δέρη), neck or throat; ichthýs (Gr. ἰχθύς), fish, the only fish Gill knew of with a “true neck”; Goode & Bean (1896) tempered his remark, describing the eel’s “neck” as “a neck-like contraction between the head and pectoral fins …” [note: fishes do not have necks (a cervical connection between the head and trunk), although a few can turn their heads up (e.g., the characoid Rhaphiodon vulpes), or both down and sideways (Salamanderfish, Lepidogalaxias salamandroides), thus creating the impression that a neck is involved]

Derichthys serpentinus Gill 1884 Latin for snake-like, referring to its “serpentiform” head, enhanced by the contracted neck-like appearance of the anterior portion of the body

Nessorhamphus Schmidt 1931 nḗssa (Gr. νῆσσα), duck; rhámphos (Gr. ῥάμφος), beak or bill, referring to its spatulate (duck-like) snout

Nessorhamphus danae Schmidt 1931 in honor of the Danish fishery research vessel Dana, from which holotype was collected

Nessorhamphus ingolfianus (Schmidt 1912) -anus (L.), belonging to: Ingolf, Danish ship from which holotype was collected