Updated 11 May 2025
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Lampris Retzius 1799 from lamprós (Gr. λαμπρός), bright, radiant, brilliant or shining, referring to brilliant coloration of L. guttatus

Subgenus Lampris

Lampris australensis Underkoffler, Luers, Hyde & Craig 2018 -ensis, Latin suffix denoting place: australis (L.), southern, referring to its known range in the southern hemisphere
Lampris guttatus (Brünnich 1788) Latin for dappled, speckled or spotted, referring to the many white spots that cover its flanks

Lampris incognitus Underkoffler, Luers, Hyde & Craig 2018 Latin for unknown, referring to the “strange or unknown presence of multiple species of opahs [i.e., five distinct, monophyletic lineages previously within L. guttatus] in the same geographic region” (Matthew T. Craig, pers. comm.)

Lampris lauta Lowe 1860 etymology not explained, perhaps from lautus (L.), elegant, referring to its coloration: reddish-orange fins in life, with oblong and irregular white spots over uniformly silver body extending onto anal fin [since etymology is uncertain, name is treated as a noun]

Lampris megalopsis Underkoffler, Luers, Hyde & Craig 2018 mégas (Gr. μέγας), large or great; ópsis (Gr. ὄψις), appearance, but used here to mean ṓps (Gr. ὦψ), eye, referring to its larger eye compared with congeners

Subgenus Paralampris Kukuev 2021 pará (Gr. παρά), beside or near, a subgenus of Lampris, distinguished (in part) by its terete “bomb-shaped” (translation) body, unlike the strongly compressed body of the other five species

Lampris immaculatus Gilchrist 1904 im-, from in (L.), not; maculatus (L.), spotted, no white spots on any part of body, unlike L. guttatus