COMMENTS
v. 3.0 – 4 April 2023 view/download PDF
Family ANARHICHADIDAE Wolffishes
2 genera · 6 species/subspecies
Anarhichas Linnaeus 1758 ancient name for A. lupus meaning “the climber,” from the Greek anarrhichesis, to climb or scramble up, perhaps referring to ancient belief that it left the water and climbed onto rocks
Anarhichas denticulatus Krøyer 1845 denticulated, i.e., finely toothed, referring to sharper, more-pointed teeth compared with A. lupus
Anarhichas lupus lupus Linnaeus 1758 Greek for wolf, referring to “Sea Wolf,” an early common name for this species, probably referring to its prominent canine teeth
Anarhichas lupus marisalbi Barsukov 1956 maris, sea; albus, white, i.e., of the White Sea, northwest coast of Russia, type locality
Anarhichas minor Olafsen 1772 smaller or lesser but in this case meaning “latter,” i.e., the latter of the two species of wolffish scientifically known at the time
Anarhichas orientalis Pallas 1814 eastern, referring to occurrence in the Russian Far East (e.g., Kamchatka Peninsula, type locality), relative to the western European A. lupus and A. minor
Anarrhichthys Ayres 1855 Anarhichas, similar in head (but not body) shape to that genus; ichthys, fish
Anarrhichthys ocellatus Ayres 1855 with eye-like spots, referring to black ocelli of various sizes on body and dorsal fin
Family NEOZOARCIDAE
2 genera · 10 species
Neozoarces Steindachner 1880 neo-, new, i.e., allusion not explained, presumably a new genus thought to be related to Zoarces (Zoarcidae) at the time
Neozoarces pulcher Steindachner 1880 beautiful, probably referring to variegated color pattern (e.g., dark-lined bands on upper head, numerous light spots on sides of head, large yellow spots on abdomen between pectoral and anal fins, dark-purple spots on whitish or yellowish pectoral fins)
Neozoarces steindachneri Jordan & Snyder 1902 in honor of Austrian ichthyologist Franz Steindachner (1834-1919), who proposed the genus in 1880 [possibly a junior synonym of N. pulcher]
Zoarchias Jordan & Snyder 1902 per the authors, “Name modified from Zoarchus, a more correct form of Zoarces” (although Jordan & Snyder classified this fish as a blenny, not at all related to Zoarces)
Zoarchias glaber Tanaka 1908 bald or smooth, referring to scaleless head and/or minute, deeply imbedded scales on body
Zoarchias hosoyai Kimura & Sato 2007 in honor of Seiichi Hosoya, Director of Okinawa Branch, IDEA Consultants Inc. (an infrastructure development and environmental conservation consulting firm), who collected holotype and paratypes and donated them to the senior author
Zoarchias macrocephalus Kimura & Sato 2007 macro-, large; cephalus, head, referring to its “relatively big” head
Zoarchias major Tomiyama 1972 greater, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to “much broader” crossbands compared with the similar Z. veneficus
Zoarchias microstomus Kimura & Jiang 1995 micro-, small; stomus, mouth, referring to smaller mouth (and head) compared with Z. uchidai
Zoarchias neglectus Tanaka 1908 overlooked, allusion not explained, presumably referring to its being collected with Z. veneficus but overlooked as a separate species
Zoarchias uchidai Matsubara 1932 in honor of Keitaro Uchida, Kyushu University, who collected type
Zoarchias veneficus Jordan & Snyder 1902 one who bewitches, referring to its “bewildering” coloration: “dusky color of body forming a sort of network with a row of circular openings about the size of pupil, extending along middle of side to tail; above the larger openings are many smaller ones; prolongations extend upward and downward from the network, forming pointed vertical bars on the fins, 21 on the dorsal, 18 on the anal; sides of belly with 4 or 5 pointed projections; pectoral with a small dark spot at its base”
Family EULOPHIIDAE
3 genera · 5 species
Azygopterus Andriashev & Makushok 1955 a-, without; zygos, pair; pterus, fin, referring to absence of paired fins
Azygopterus corallinus Andriashev & Makushok 1955 pertaining to coral, allusion not explained, probably referring to its being collected from within the rose-colored hydrocoral Allopora
Eulophias Smith 1902 eu-, well; lophias, one having a bristly back, referring to very long spinous dorsal fin of E. tanneri
Eulophias koreanus Kwun & Kim 2012 Korean, known only from the southern sea of Korea (i.e., Sea of Japan or East Sea)
Eulophias spinosior Nakayama, Yamakawa, Takami & Endo 2023 comparative of spinosus, meaning thorny, spiny, or prickly, referring to its greater number of dorsal-fin spines compared with congeners
Eulophias tanneri Smith 1902 in honor of Zera Luther Tanner (1835-1906), U.S. Navy, Commander of the Fish Commission steamers Albatross (from which type was collected) and Fish Hawk (1879-1894), the “foremost exponent of the methods of modern deep-sea exploration, whose intelligent and zealous investigations have led to most valuable contributions to oceanic biology and physics”
Leptostichaeus Miki 1985 leptos, slender, referring to body shape; Stichaeus, type genus of Stichaeidae, its presumed family at the time
Leptostichaeus pumilus Miki 1985 dwarfish, referring to small body (described at 73.8 mm SL)
Family STICHAEIDAE Pricklebacks
19 genera · 45 species/subspecies
Subfamily STICHAEINAE
Dinogunellus Herzenstein 1890 etymology not explained, perhaps dino-, fearfully great (as in dinosaur), referring to “robust build” and/or “very wide mouth cleft” (translations) of D. grigorjewi; gunellus, Latinization of gunnel (Pholidae, a closely related family previously included with Stichaeidae), i.e., a fearsome-looking gunnel
Dinogunellus fuscus (Miki & Maruyama 1986) dark, referring to uniformly dark-brown color of body and head (except for pale ventral region)
Dinogunellus grigorjewi (Herzenstein 1890) in honor of Russian botanist and ethnographer Alexander Vasilevich Grigoriev (1848-1908), who collected type
Dinogunellus nozawae (Jordan & Snyder 1902) in honor of zoologist Shunjiro (sometimes spelled Sunziro) Nozawa, Director, Fisheries Bureau (Hokkaido, Japan), who “kindly loaned” holotype to the authors [although named after a man, some classically trained zoologists latinized the names of individuals that ended with the letter “a” by adding an “e” to the spelling]
Ernogrammus Jordan & Evermann 1898 ernos, branch; grammus, line, distinguished from Eumesogrammus by its branching lateral line
Ernogrammus hexagrammus (Schlegel 1845) hexa-, six; grammus, line, referring to three lateral lines per side, for a total of six
Ernogrammus walkeri Follett & Powell 1988 in honor of Boyd W. Walker (1917-2001), University of California (Los Angeles), and past president of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, who discovered this species and “generously permitted” the authors to describe it
Ernogrammus zhirmunskii Markevich & Kharin 2011 in honor of Alexey V. Zhirmunsky (1921-2000), founder and director of the Institute of Marine Biology (Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok), and initiator of the Far Eastern Marine Reserve, who “contributed significantly to the development of marine biology in the Russian Far East”
Eumesogrammus Gill 1864 eu-, well; mesos, middle; grammus, line, referring to the middle (second longest) of its three lateral lines
Eumesogrammus praecisus (Krøyer 1836) abridged or cut off, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to how the upper and lower lateral lines do not reach caudal fin like the middle lateral line
Plagiogrammus Bean 1894 plagio, oblique (i.e., slanting); grammus, line, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to how upper lateral line “curves very slightly” over pectoral fin
Plagiogrammus hopkinsii Bean 1894 in honor of philanthropist Timothy Hopkins (1859-1936) of Menlo Park, California, USA, founder of the Seaside Laboratory at Pacific Grove, Monterey Bay, for “services in behalf of science”
Stichaeopsis Kner 1870 opsis, appearance, presumably referring to Stichaeus-like appearance of S. nana
Stichaeopsis epallax (Jordan & Snyder 1902) crosswise, presumably referring to 3-4 “cross lines” connecting lower branch of bottom lateral line to upper branch and/or to multiple similar lines or branches extending from top lateral line towards dorsal fin
Stichaeopsis nana Kner 1870 small, described at 14 Wiener Linien (30.73 mm)
Stichaeopsis nevelskoi (Schmidt 1904) in honor of Russian navigator Gennady Ivanovich Nevelskoy (1813-1876), who proved that the Strait of Tartary (northern Japan Sea, type locality), was not a gulf but indeed a strait, connected to the Amur River estuary by a narrow section now called the Nevelskoy Strait
Stichaeus Reinhardt 1836 to set in a row, presumably referring to 5-6 round spots lined up in a row on dorsal fin
Stichaeus ochriamkini Taranetz 1935 patronym not identified, probably in honor of Dmitriy Ivanovich Ochryamkin (also spelled Okhryamkin), a fisheries scientist who was very active in the Russian Far East, where this genus occurs
Stichaeus punctatus punctatus (Fabricius 1780) spotted, referring to 5-6 round spots, posteriorly white-edged, on dorsal fin
Stichaeus punctatus pulcherrimus Taranetz 1935 most beautiful, but Taranetz did not explain what he deemed so beautiful about it, nor if he considered it more colorful or attractive than the nominate form
Ulvaria Jordan & Evermann 1896 –ia, belonging to: Ulva, the sea lettuce, in which many blenniioid fishes live (per Jordan & Evermann 1898, reflecting belief at the time that pricklebacks and blennies are related)
Ulvaria subbifurcata (Storer 1839) sub-, somewhat; bifurcata, bifurcate, referring to forked median lateral line
Subfamily CHIROLOPHINAE
Bryozoichthys Whitley 1931 bryozo-, presumably referring to bryozoans, possibly a lapsus for bryon, moss, and ichthys, fish; replacement name for Bryolophus Jordan & Snyder 1902 (preoccupied in Polyzoa), originally referring to bryon, moss, and lophus, crest, referring to cirrhi and tentacles on upper part of head
Bryozoichthys lysimus (Jordan & Snyder 1902) Greek for restorable, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to its having been confused with Bryostemma polyactocephalum (=Soldatovia polyactocephala) and now, having been properly described, its status or identity has been “restored”
Bryozoichthys marjorius McPhail 1970 variant of margarita, a pearl, in honor of McPhail’s wife Marjorie, and alluding to its distinctive pearly-white coloration
Chirolophis Swainson 1839 etymology not explained, perhaps chiro, from cheiros, hand, allusion not evident; lophis, crest, possibly referring to dense cluster of cirrhi on top of head of C. yarellii (=ascanii)
Chirolophis ascanii (Walbaum 1792) in honor of Peter Ascanius (1723-1803), Norwegian biologist and one of Linnaeus’ pupils, who first described this species (but did not name it) in the second volume (1772) of his five-volume illustrated Icones rerum naturalium (1767-1805)
Chirolophis decoratus (Jordan & Snyder 1902) ornamented, probably referring to decorative array of cirri on head
Chirolophis japonicus Herzenstein 1890 Japanese, described from Hokkaido, Japan (occurs in western North Pacific from Yellow Sea to Peter the Great Bay)
Chirolophis nugator (Jordan & Williams 1895) a fop (per Jordan & Evermann 1898), i.e., a man who is devoted to or vain about his appearance or dress, probably referring to dense cluster of cirrhi on top of head and/or 12 prominent ocelli along length of dorsal fin (also, “fop” is semantically related to “cockscomb,” both a conceited person and a jester’s cap adorned with a strip of red; members of the subfamily Alectriinae are called cockscombs)
Chirolophis saitonis (Jordan & Snyder 1902) –is, genitive singular of: Mr. Sotaro Saito, director of the Museum of Aomori, Japan, who “presented” type [originally and often spelled saitone, but saitonis agrees with the masculine Chirolophis]
Chirolophis snyderi (Taranetz 1938) in honor of ichthyologist John Otterbein Snyder (1867-1943), for his many studies of stichaeid fishes (with David Starr Jordan)
Chirolophis tarsodes (Jordan & Snyder 1902) Greek for matted, referring to “dense mat” of barbels covering sides of head
Chirolophis wui (Wang & Wang 1935) in honor of Wu Hsien-Wen (also spelled Wu Xian-Wen, 1900-1985), National Research Institute of Biology, Academia Sinica
Gymnoclinus Gilbert & Burke 1912 gymnos, bare or naked, referring to scaleless body; Clinus (Blenniiformes: Clinidae), presumed to be a related genus at the time
Gymnoclinus cristulatus Gilbert & Burke 1912 diminutive of cristatus, crested, referring to 1-3 fleshy tubercles on median line of interopercle and snout
Soldatovia Taranetz 1937 –ia, belonging to: ichthyologist Vladimir Konstantinovich Soldatov (1875-1941), Moscow Technical Institute of Fishing Industry and Fish Farming, who reviewed Taranetz’ manuscript
Soldatovia polyactocephala (Pallas 1814) poly, many; actis, ray; cephalus, headed, presumably referring to two pairs of cirri over eyes, and two parallel rows of cirri on top of head behind eyes
Subfamily ALECTRIINAE Cockscombs
Alectrias Jordan & Evermann 1898 from alektryon, Greek for cock, referring to fleshy crest on head of A. alectrolophus (hence the common name cockscomb)
Alectrias alectrolophus (Pallas 1814) alektryon, Greek for cock; lophus, crest, referring to fleshy crest on head (hence the common name cockscomb)
Alectrias benjamini Jordan & Snyder 1902 in honor of Marcus Benjamin (1857-1932), editor of Proceedings of the United States National Museum, in which many of Jordan’s and Snyder’s descriptions appeared (including this one)
Alectrias cirratus (Lindberg 1938) curled or fringed, characterized by the presence of supraocular cirrus
Alectrias gallinus (Lindberg 1938) hen-like, “low crest on head with peculiar extension in interorbital area resembling the crest of hen” (translation)
Alectrias markevichi Sheiko 2012 in honor of Aleksandr Igorevich Markevich, Far-Eastern Marine Biosphere Reserve, Far Eastern Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences (Vladivostok), “one of the best scuba diver ichthyologists, who actively and creatively studied under rather difficult conditions the distribution, behavior, and biology of fishes in their natural environment” (translation)
Alectrias mutsuensis Shiogaki 1985 –ensis, suffix denoting place: Mutsu Bay, Aomori Prefecture, Japan, type locality (occurs in western North Pacific from northern Honshu, Japan, to northern Okhotsk Sea)
Pseudalectrias Lindberg 1938 pseudo-, false, i.e., although this species may superficially resemble Alectrias, with its one species originally placed in it, such an appearance is false
Pseudalectrias tarasovi (Popov 1933) in honor of Soviet hydrobiologist Nikolay Ivanovich Tarasov (1905-1965), who collected type
Subfamily XIPHISTERINAE
Alectridium Gilbert & Burke 1912 –idium, diminutive connoting resemblance, presumed to be closely related to Alectrias but differing in the absence of a lateral line
Alectridium aurantiacum Gilbert & Burke 1912 orange-colored, referring to color in life, “orange chrome above, saturn red below”
Anoplarchus Gill 1861 anoplos, unarmed; archos, anal, referring to lack of spines in anal fin of A. purpurescens
Anoplarchus insignis Gilbert & Burke 1912 well-marked, presumably referring to any or all of the following: 19 irregular V-shaped grayish spots on back along base of dorsal fin; series of irregular pale spots along middle of sides; dark spot at dorsal-fin origin; dorsal and anal fins spotted and variegated with brown; caudal fin finely crossbarred; cheeks, lips, and chin crossbarred; narrow black line along edge of gill flap
Anoplarchus purpurescens Gill 1861 purplish, referring to “dark purple” color of type specimens (but coloration is highly variable, changing in life to match background)
Dictyosoma Temminck & Schlegel 1845 diktyon, net; soma, body, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to skin of D. temminckii “divided into compartments, … produced by many small scales that are embedded in its thickness” (translation)
Dictyosoma rubrimaculatum Yatsu, Yasuda & Taki 1978 rubri-, red; maculatus, spotted, referring to two red blotches above pectoral fin
Dictyosoma temminckii Bleeker 1853 in honor of Coenraad Jacob Temminck (1778-1858), director of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie (Leiden, Netherlands), who, with Hermann Schlegel (1804-1884), named this genus in 1845 but did not include a species
Dictyosoma tongyeongense Ji & Kim 2012 –ensis, suffix denoting place: Tongyeong, South Sea of Korea, type locality
Esselenichthys Anderson 2003 Esselen, Native American people (now extirpated) whose territory bordered on the rocky Pacific coast from Point Sur to Point Lopez, California, about midway of the latitudinal range of the two known species; ichthys, fish [replacement name for Esselenia Follett and Anderson 1990, preoccupied in grasshoppers]
Esselenichthys carli (Follett & Anderson 1990) in honor of Carl Leavitt Hubbs (1894-1979), twice president of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, friend and mentor, who discovered this species and E. laurae (named after his wife)
Esselenichthys laurae (Follett & Anderson 1990) in honor of Laura Clark Hubbs (1893-1988), ichthyologist and mathematician, who, over the years, contributed to our field chiefly through the research papers of her distinguished husband (see E. carli)
Phytichthys Hubbs 1923 phytos, plant; ichthys, fish, allusion not explained, according to Pietsch & Orr 2019 (Fishes of the Salish Sea), referring to its “strong predilection for living among and consuming algae” [replacement name for Xiphistes Jordan & Starks 1895, preoccupied in insects, Xiphistes Stål 1866]
Phytichthys chirus (Jordan & Gilbert 1880) hand, referring to small pectoral fins, “but several times larger than in any of the other species” of Xiphister, its presumed genus at the time [italics in original]
Xiphister Jordan 1880 Greek for a sword belt, an etymologically similar replacement name for Xiphidion Girard 1858 (preoccupied in Orthoptera), original allusion not explained but probably referring to long, highly compressed body of X. mucosus
Xiphister atropurpureus (Kittlitz 1858) ater, black; purpureus, purple, referring to purple-brown color of holotype (color in life varies from dark reddish-brown to black)
Xiphister mucosus (Girard 1858) slimy or full of mucus, presumably referring to three lateral mucus ducts extending from head to base of caudal fin, and a fourth duct extending from base of pectoral fin to vent
Family LUMPENIDAE Eel Pricklebacks
8 genera · 11 species
Acantholumpenus Makushok 1958 acanthus, thorn or spine, referring to two pungent spines at beginning of anal fin, compared with Lumpenus, original genus of A. mackayi, in which a single anal-fin spine is weakly developed
Acantholumpenus mackayi (Gilbert 1896) per Jordan & Evermann (1898), in honor of Charles Lesley McKay (1855-1883) of Appleton, Wisconsin, USA, a “very able young ichthyologist” who drowned at Nushagak, Alaska, at or near type locality in Bristol Bay (an amateur naturalist in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, he disappeared during a collecting trip in a kayak)
Anisarchus Gill 1864 etymology not explained; per Jordan & Evermann (1898), anisos, unequal, and archus, anal, referring to anal-fin rays of A. medius very low in front, gradually lengthening posteriorly
Anisarchus macrops (Matsubara & Ochiai 1952) macro-, large; ops, eye, referring to “very large” eye, its diameter equal to upper jaw length and about 1.6 times as long as snout
Anisarchus medius (Reinhardt 1837) middle, allusion not explained, perhaps regarded as intermediate between Clinus lumpenus (=Lumpenus fabricii) and Clinus aculeatus (=Leptoclinus maculatus), its presumed congeners at the time
Leptoclinus Gill 1861 leptos, slender, referring to elongate body shape; Clinus (Blenniiformes: Clinidae), original genus of type species, L. aculeatus (=maculatus)
Leptoclinus maculatus (Fries 1838) spotted, referring to dark spots or blotches irregularly marking body and dorsal fin
Lumpenella Hubbs 1927 diminutive of Lumpenus, original genus of L. longirostris, differing “widely” in the form of the head, snout and eyes, and increased number of anal-fin spines
Lumpenella longirostris (Evermann & Goldsborough 1907) longus, long; rostris, snout, referring to “long, blunt, and projecting” snout
Lumpenus Reinhardt 1836 tautonymous with Blennius lumpenus Fabricius 1780 (a junior homonym Blennius lumpenus Linnaeus 1758, a species of Gaidropsarus, Gadiformes: Gadidae), latinization of Lumpen, a Danish word meaning dirty or foul and a vernacular used by Danish, Icelandic and Norwegian authors for Zoarces viviparus (Zoarcidae, apparently referring to its dark, muddy coloration), which Fabricius confused with this species
Lumpenus fabricii Reinhardt 1836 in honor of Otto Fabricius (1744-1822), Danish missionary, naturalist, explorer, ethnographer, and the first to study the fishes of Greenland, who called this fish Blennius lumpenus in 1780 but used a preoccupied name
Lumpenus lampretaeformis (Walbaum 1792) lampetra, lamprey (but sometimes used generically for an eel-shaped fish); formis, shape, presumably referring to its elongate, eel-like body
Lumpenus sagitta Wilimovsky 1956 arrow, allusion not explained, probably referring to its long and slender head and body [replacement name for Leptogunellus gracilis Ayres 1855, secondarily preoccupied by Blennius gracilis Stuwitz 1838]
Neolumpenus Miki, Kanamaru & Amaoka 1987 neo-, new; Lumpenus, type genus of family, i.e., a new lumpenid
Neolumpenus unocellatus Miki, Kanamaru & Amaoka 1987 uno, one; ocellatus, with eye-like spots, referring to black ocellus on caudal fin
Poroclinus Bean 1890 poros, pore, referring to unusually large sensory pores on head; Clinus (Blenniiformes: Clinidae), genus of similar fishes presumed to be related at the time
Poroclinus rothrocki Bean 1890 in honor of Joseph Trimble Rothrock (1839-1922), an American physician, botanist and environmentalist, who served as the first president of the Pennsylvania Forestry Association and is recognized today as the “father of forestry” in Pennsylvania (USA)
Xenolumpenus Shinohara & Yabe 2009 xenos, strange (i.e., different); Lumpenus, type genus of family, unique among all known lumpenids in having elongate pectoral-, pelvic- and anal-fin rays
Xenolumpenus longipterus Shinohara & Yabe 2009 longus, long; pterus, fin, referring to elongate pectoral fins (pelvic- and anal-fin rays are also elongate but not mentioned in the description’s etymology section)
Family OPISTHOCENTRIDAE
6 genera · 12 species
Askoldia Pavlenko 1910 –ia, belonging to: near Askold Island, Peter the Great Bay, Russia, type locality of A. variegata
Askoldia variegata Pavlenko 1910 variegated, presumably referring to color pattern, described as having numerous diffuse green spots on a red background
Kasatkia Soldatov & Pavlenko 1916 –ia, belonging to: Kasatka, boat from which the authors began their research on the salmon fisheries of the Amur River
Kasatkia memorabilis Soldatov & Pavlenko 1916 memorable, remarkable, or worthy of mention, allusion not explained but described as a “very interesting blennoid fish”
Kasatkia seigeli Posner & Lavenberg 1999 in honor of Jeffrey A. Seigel, manager of the fish collection at the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History (California, USA), for his “many years of hard work on the fishes of California”
Lumpenopsis Soldatov 1916 opsis, appearance, similar to Lumpenus (Lumpenidae) but differing in having gill membranes free from the isthmus, teeth on vomer, and low spines of dorsal fin
Lumpenopsis clitella Hastings & Walker 2003 Latin for saddle, referring to eight dark dorsal saddles
Lumpenopsis hypochroma (Hubbs & Schultz 1932) hypo-, below; chroma, colored, referring to 11 short, black markings extending from near middle of body about halfway to ventral border, some roughly resembling the letter “Y”
Lumpenopsis pavlenkoi Soldatov 1916 in honor of Russian ichthyologist Mikhail Nikolaevich Pavlenko (1886-1919), “whose zeal we are indebted for many collections from Peter the Great Bay [type locality] and Okhotsk Sea”
Lumpenopsis triocellata (Matsubara 1943) tri-, three; ocellatus, with eye-like spots, referring to three large, round, black spots on dorsal fin
Opisthocentrus Kner 1868 opistho-, behind; kentron, thorn or spine, referring to spines on last two rays (11th and 12th) of dorsal fin of Centronotus quinquemaculatus (=O. ocellatus)
Opisthocentrus ocellatus (Tilesius 1811) having eye-like spots, referring to five ocelli on dorsal fin
Opisthocentrus tenuis Bean & Bean 1897 thin, referring to more-compressed body than O. ocellatus
Opisthocentrus zonope Jordan & Snyder 1902 zona, band; enope, look (i.e., appearance), allusion not explained, perhaps referring to “head with a number of sharply defined, narrow, dark bands, one passing across interorbital space through eye, downward on chin, another extending from eye backward and downward to subopercle, a curved band passing over occiput and connecting eyes, another passing over the nape and downward on opercle”
Pholidapus Bean & Bean 1897 Pholis (Pholidae), similar to that genus; a-, without and pous, foot, referring to absence of ventral fins
Pholidapus dybowskii (Steindachner 1880) patronym not identified but probably in honor of Polish biologist Benedykt Dybowski (1833-1930), who studied the fauna of the Russian Far East (where this species occurs)
Plectobranchus Gilbert 1890 plecto-, enfolded; branchus, gill, presumably referring to “Gill slits not continued far forwards, the membranes only broadly united, wholly free from isthmus”
Plectobranchus evides Gilbert 1890 comely, presumably referring to coloration, with alternating black-and-white oblique bars on dorsal fin and a white-edged pectoral fin
Family PHOLIDAE Gunnels
4 genera · 15 species
Subfamily PHOLINAE
Pholis Scopoli 1777 ancient Greek name dating to at least Aristotle for a fish that lurks in a hole
Pholis clemensi Rosenblatt 1964 in honor of the late Wilbert Amie Clemens (1887-1964), University of British Columbia, for his contributions to ichthyology, and especially for his works on the fishes of western Canada
Pholis crassispina (Temminck & Schlegel 1845) crassus, fat or stout; spinus, thorn, referring to “strong curved” (translation) spines of dorsal fin, presumably stouter than those of P. nebulosa (described in same publication)
Pholis fangi (Wang & Wang 1935) in honor of Ping-Wen Fang (1903-1944), Metropolitan Museum of Natural History and Biological Laboratory of the Science Society of China, who specialized in the study of Chinese fishes
Pholis fasciata (Bloch & Schneider 1801) banded, referring to sinuous reddish-black bands on bright reddish-orange to greenish-yellow body reaching ventral surface
Pholis gunnellus (Linnaeus 1758) latinization of gunnel, English vernacular for this species, possibly derived from the English gunwale, the upper edge of a ship’s or boat’s side, alluding to the fish’s elongated and depressed body
Pholis laeta (Cope 1873) joyful, glad or pleasant, allusion not explained but described from two “rather brilliantly colored” specimens
Pholis nea Peden & Hughes 1984 new, referring to “new or recent finding of this distinct form geographically isolated from verifiable ornata and laeta populations, and the fact that all known specimens are smaller and presumably younger (newer) compared with the other species”
Pholis nebulosa (Temminck & Schlegel 1845) dark or cloudy, presumably referring to pale reddish-brown color mottled with many large, darker reddish-brown spots
Pholis ornata (Girard 1854) decorated or adorned, presumably referring to 12-13 U- or V-shaped, blackish-brown markings on back and/or light and dark streaks radiating out from eyes
Pholis picta (Kner 1868) painted, presumably referring to any or all of the following: two longitudinal rows of large dark-brown or dark-gray spots on a pale-green body with a light-colored longitudinal stripe between them and/or black-edged yellow stripe from lower margin or preopercle upward and through occiput
Pholis schultzi Schultz 1931 in honor of Leonard P. Schultz (1901-1986), then with the Department of Fisheries, University of Washington (USA), later Curator of Fishes at the U. S. National Museum; name first appeared without distinguishing features in Hubbs 1928, made available by Schultz (who did not name it after himself)
Subfamily APODICHTHYINAE
Apodichthys Girard 1854 a-, without; podal, feet, referring to absence of pelvic fins; ichthys, fish
Apodichthys flavidus Girard 1854 yellowish, described as having a uniform yellowish body color with a slight grayish hue (color in life highly variable depending on diet and microhabitat, including red, green, yellow, and brown)
Apodichthys fucorum Jordan & Gilbert 1880 –orum, belonging to: Fucus, genus of brown algae or seaweed, in masses of which this gunnel often occurs
Rhodymenichthys Jordan & Evermann 1896 per Jordan & Evermann (1898), named for Rhodymenia (rhodon, rose; hymen, membrane) a genus of red seaweed, presumably referring to cherry-red color of body and fins in life and/or occurrence of R. dolichogaster among this seaweed; ichthys, fish
Rhodymenichthys dolichogaster (Pallas 1814) dolichos, long; gaster, belly, presumably referring to posterior origin of anal fin, creating a long belly
Ulvicola Gilbert & Starks 1897 per Jordan & Evermann (1898), Ulva, genus of sea lettuce; –icola, to inhabit, presumably referring to its habitat (collected from a rock pool)
Ulvicola sanctaerosae Gilbert & Starks 1897 of Santa Rosa Island, California (USA), type locality (occurs from central California south to northern Baja California of México)
Family PTILICHTHYIDAE Quillfish
Ptilichthys Bean 1881 ptilon, Greek for quill, referring to its feather-like appearance, with an extremely elongate, slender body and long dorsal and anal fins
Ptilichthys goodei Bean 1881 in honor of Bean’s colleague and frequent collaborator, ichthyologist George Brown Goode (1851-1896)
Family ZAPRORIDAE Prowfish
Zaprora Jordan 1896 za-, very; prora, prow or bow, presumably referring to its high, blunt forehead (hence the common name Prowfish)
Zaprora silenus Jordan 1896 named for Silenus, a drunken demigod in Greek mythology who fell into a swamp and was covered with slime, referring to the fish’s mucus-producing cephalic sensory pores
Family CRYPTACANTHODIDAE Wrymouths
Cryptacanthodes Storer 1839 cryptos, concealed; acanthodes, spined, referring to spinous dorsal-fin rays of C. maculatus “concealed by a common membrane”
Cryptacanthodes aleutensis (Gilbert 1896) –ensis, suffix denoting place: Aleutian Islands, where type locality (Unalaska Island, Alaska) is situated
Cryptacanthodes bergi Lindberg 1930 in honor of “well-known” (translation) ichthyologist Lev (also Leo) Semyonovich Berg (1876-1950)
Cryptacanthodes giganteus (Kittlitz 1858) giant, reaching 123 cm TL
Cryptacanthodes maculatus Storer 1839 spotted, referring to several series of smallish dark spots, arranged in more or less regular rows, from head to base of caudal fin
Family CEBIDICHTHYIDAE Monkeyface Prickleback
Cebidichthys Ayres 1855 from the Greek kebos, a long-tailed monkey, referring to “peculiar monkey-like” face of C. crislagalli (=violaceus) when seen from the front; ichthys, fish
Cebidichthys violaceus (Girard 1854) violet-colored, referring to any or all of the following: “uniform deep-violet” color of head and anterior portion of body, a “violaceous tint” to brownish posterior body, “deep violet” fins, and “deep purple” crescent-shaped band extending from either eye to occiput
Family SCYTALINIDAE Graveldiver
Scytalina Jordan & Gilbert 1880 diminutive of Scytale (=Agkistrodon), a genus of pit vipers, referring to snake-like head, neck and fang-like canines
Scytalina cerdale Jordan & Gilbert 1880 Greek for wary, crafty or fox-like, presumably referring to how it “inhabits piles of shingle and small bowlders near the mark of lowest tides, and when disturbed makes its way downward with great celerity through small crevices into the water” (hence the common name Graveldiver)
Family BATHYMASTERIDAE Ronquils
3 genera · 7 species
Bathymaster Cope 1873 bathy, deep; master, seeker; Cope surmised that B. signatus, based on its large eyes, probably inhabits “considerable depths of the oceans (it occurs offshore from 300-825 m)
Bathymaster caeruleofasciatus Gilbert & Burke 1912 caeruleo-, blue; fasciatus, banded, referring to irregular deep-blue bars on sides in life
Bathymaster derjugini Lindberg 1930 in honor of oceanographer Konstantin Mikhailovich Deryugin (1878-1938), who collected type
Bathymaster leurolepis McPhail 1965 leuros, smooth; lepis, scale, referring to its smooth embedded scales, much smoother than those of the sympatric B. caeruleofasciatus
Bathymaster signatus Cope 1873 marked, presumably referring to a “deep black spot crossing the extremities of the webs and first five spines of the dorsal fin”
Rathbunella Jordan & Evermann 1896 –ella, diminutive connoting endearment: per Jordan & Evermann (1898), in honor of Richard Rathbun (1852-1918), then chief of the Division of Scientific Inquiry in the U. S. Fish Commission, for his many services to science
Rathbunella alleni Gilbert 1904 in honor of W. F. Allen, Pacific Grove, California, USA, a collector of natural history specimens, who discovered this species (perhaps by longlining) in Monterey Bay
Rathbunella hypoplecta (Gilbert 1890) hypo-, under; plectus, plaited, presumably referring to united branchiostegal membranes, free from isthmus, forming a thick fold
Ronquilus Jordan & Starks 1895 per Jordan & Evermann (1898), latinization of ronquil, Spanish name for R. jordani, presumably derived from rocos, meaning “one who grunts” (although grunting is not mentioned)
Ronquilus jordani (Gilbert 1889) in honor of David Starr Jordan (1851-1931), who (with Gilbert) first recorded this species from Puget Sound (Washington, USA) as Bathymaster signatus in 1881 (Jordan & Evermann 1898 say that Jordan was its “discoverer”)