Revised 31 Jan. 2024
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Barbantus Parr 1951 etymology not explained, perhaps a variant spelling of barbatus (L.), bearded, referring to “bony horizontal spine [that] projects laterally on each side from the tip of the lower jaw” of B. curvifrons

Barbantus curvifrons (Roule & Angel 1931) curvus (L.), curved; frons (L.), brow or forehead, referring to curved upper side of head, which differs from other species of Bathytroctes (genus at time of description)

Barbantus elongatus Krefft 1970 Latin for prolonged, referring to its “extremely elongated” shape compared with B. curvifrons

Holtbyrnia Parr 1937 –ia (L. suffix), belonging to: English ichthyologist Ernest William Lyons Holt (1864–1922) and his frequent collaborator L. W. Byrne, who authored several papers on the fishes of the Irish Atlantic Slope

Holtbyrnia anomala Krefft 1980 anṓmalos (Gr. ἀνώμαλος), irregular, referring to the “unusual” rudimentary development of its photophores

Holtbyrnia conocephala Sazonov 1976  cone-headed, from kṓnos (Gr. κῶνος), cone, and kephalḗ (Gr. κεφαλή), head, referring to the shape of its head

Holtbyrnia cyanocephala (Krefft 1967) blue-headed, from kýanos (Gr. κύανος), dark blue, and kephalḗ (Gr. κεφαλή), head, referring to the intense, metallic-blue coloration of its head

Holtbyrnia innesi (Fowler 1934) in honor of American aquarist William T. Innes (1874–1969), editor of the “very successful” magazine The Aquarist

Holtbyrnia intermedia (Sazonov 1976) Latin for intermediate, similar in form to both Holtbyrnia and Sagamichthys

Holtbyrnia laticauda Sazonov 1976 latus (L.), wide or broad; cauda (L.), tail, referring to its deep caudal peduncle

Holtbyrnia latifrons Sazonov 1976 latus (L.), wide or broad; frons (L.), brow or forehead, referring to its wide interorbital space

Holtbyrnia macrops Maul 1957 macro-, from makrós (Gr. μακρός), long or large; ṓps (Gr. ὦψ), eye, referring to its large eyes, longer than high, three times in length of head

Holtbyrnia melanocephala (Vaillant 1888) black-headed, from melanos, genitive of mélas (Gr. μέλας), black, and kephalḗ (Gr. κεφαλή), head, referring to its “deep blue black” head (translation)

Holtbyrnia ophiocephala Sazonov & Golovan 1976 snake-headed, from óphis (Gr. ὄφις), snake, and kephalḗ (Gr. κεφαλή), head, referring to the characteristic snake-like appearance of its head

Matsuichthys Sazonov 1992 in honor of Japanese-American ichthyologist Tetsuo Matsui (b. 1931), Scripps Institution of Oceanography, senior author of M. aequipinnis; ichthýs (Gr. ἰχθύς), fish

Matsuichthys aequipinnis (Matsui & Rosenblatt 1987) aequalis (L.), equal or uniform; pinnis, scientific Neo-Latin adjective of pinna, fin, i.e., finned, referring to opposed dorsal and anal fins

Maulisia Parr 1960 –isia (L. adjectival suffix): in honor of German-born Portuguese ichthyologist-taxidermist Günther Edmund Maul (1909–1997), who described several deep-sea fishes, and who reported type species, M. mauli, as Holtbyrnia polycoeca (=innesi) in 1954

Maulisia acuticeps Sazonov 1976 acutus (L.), sharp or pointed; –ceps (Neo-Latin), headed, referring to characteristic shape of head

Maulisia argipalla Matsui & Rosenblatt 1979 argós (Gr. ἀργός), bright or shining; pálla (Gr. πάλλα), ball, referring to its round THO photophore

Maulisia isaacsi Matsui & Rosenblatt 1987 in honor of the late John D. Isaacs (1913–1980), Scripps Institution of Oceanography, “oceanographer extraordinary, and good friend”

Maulisia mauli Parr 1960 in honor of German-born Portuguese Günther Edmund Maul (1909–1997), Museu Municipal do Funchal (Portugal), who described several deep-sea fishes, and who reported this species as Holtbyrnia polycoeca (=innesi) in 1954

Maulisia microlepis Sazonov & Golovan 1976 micro-, from mikrós (Gr. μικρός), small; lepís (Gr. λεπίς), scale, referring to its smaller scales compared with M. mauli

Mentodus Parr 1951 mentum (L.), chin; odus, from odoús (Gr. ὀδούς), tooth, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to short, comb-like series of strong, horizontal teeth on outer side of lower jaw of M. rostratus

Mentodus bythios (Matsui & Rosenblatt 1987) býthios (Gr. βύθιος), “of the deep,” referring to habitat of all platytroctids

Mentodus crassus Parr 1960 Latin for thick, fat or stout, probably referring to its “enormous” head

Mentodus eubranchus (Matsui & Rosenblatt 1987) eū́- (Gr. εὖ), well or very; branchus, from bránchia (Gr. βράγχια), gills, referring to its relatively long gill filaments

Mentodus facilis (Parr 1951) Latin for easy or facile, allusion not explained nor evident

Mentodus longirostris (Sazonov & Golovan 1976) longus (L.), long; rostris, scientific Neo-Latin adjective of rostrum (L.), snout, i.e., snouted, referring to relatively long snout, equal to or slightly shorter than eye

Mentodus mesalirus (Matsui & Rosenblatt 1987) mesa-, from mésos (Gr. μέσος), middle; lira (L.), ridge, referring to ridging of lateral line by modified scales

Mentodus perforatus Sazonov & Trunov 1978 Latin for perforated, referring to numerous pores of cephalic sensory system compared with congeners (crassus, rostratus) known at the time

Mentodus rostratus (Günther 1878) Latin for beaked, referring to “intermaxillary terminating in front in a short projection”

Mirorictus Parr 1947 mirus (L.), wonderful or amazing; rictis, from rictus (L.), open mouth, referring to peculiar jaw morphology, which Parr was initially inclined to view with disbelief or with a strong suspicion that he was merely observing the traumatic or teratological condition of an aberrant specimen (upper jaws form part of interior roof of the mouth, with the single supramaxillary and the posterior and larger portion of the maxillary located inside ascending rami of bones of lower jaw)

Mirorictus taningi Parr 1947 in honor of Danish ichthyologist Åge Vedel Tåning (1890–1958), who took part in the Dana fishery research cruises during which holotype was collected, and who invited Parr to study the collections

Normichthys Parr 1951 in honor of English ichthyologist J. R. (John Roxborough) Norman (1898–1944), British Museum (Natural History), who reported type species, N. operosus, as Talismania homoptera (Alepocephalidae) in 1930; ichthýs (Gr. ἰχθύς), fish

Normichthys herringi Sazonov & Merrett 2001 in honor of marine biologist Peter J. Herring, for his “impressive” contribution to the study of oceanic bioluminescence, and for making available to the authors the collection of fishes that contained type

Normichthys operosus Parr 1951 Latin for active, busy, painstaking, industrious or laborious, allusion not explained nor evident (perhaps describing J. R. Norman, for whom the genus is named?)

Normichthys yahganorum Lavenberg 1965 –orum, commemorative suffix (L.), plural: in honor of the Yahgan Indians, archipelagic shellfish gatherers of Tierra del Fuego, who practiced shellfish conservation and avoided exhausting their food supply; this species occurs in deep waters along the Chilean coastline where the Yahgan once flourished

Pectinantus Sazonov 1986 variant spelling of pectinatus (L.), comb-toothed (perhaps mirroring the spelling of Barbantus, a closely related genus), referring to short row of pectinate teeth along outer row of anterior portion of lower jaw in adults (compared to teeth present only in Barbantus juveniles)

Pectinantus parini (Sazonov 1976) in honor of ichthyologist Nikolai Vasil’evich Parin (1932–2012), P. P. Shirov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, a leader of 57th R/V Vityaz (also spelled Vitiaz) cruise that collected holotype and who first noted some distinguishing characters of this species

Persparsia Parr 1951 etymology not explained and meaning unknown, perhaps named for a person (like other platytroctid genera named by Parr, e.g., Maulisia, Searsia), or derived from the Latin per (very, continuously, throughout) and sparsus (few, rare, scattered), referring to rarity or scattered occurrence throughout its range

Persparsia kopua (Phillipps 1942) Māori word for “deep water,” referring to its bathypelagic habitat (holotype was secured from the stomach of a grouper by a land line at 1829 m, Cook Strait, New Zealand)

Platytroctes Günther 1878 platýs (Gr. πλατύς), flat, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to “much compressed” body of P. apus; trṓktēs (Gr. τρώκτης), gnawer, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to mouth and jaws “armed with a single series of small teeth”

Platytroctes apus Günther 1878 á- (Gr. ἄ-), without; pus, from poús (Gr. πούς), foot, referring to its lack of pelvic fins, homologous to the feet

Platytroctes mirus (Lloyd 1909) mirus (L.), wonderful or amazing, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to its “most remarkable” resemblance to P. apus, but possessing the pelvic fins that the former lacks

Sagamichthys Parr 1953 Sagami Bay, Japan, type locality of S. abei; ichthýs (Gr. ἰχθύς), fish

Sagamichthys abei Parr 1953 in honor of ichthyologist Tokiharu Abe (1911–1996), Zoological Institute of Tokyo University, who loaned holotype to Parr

Sagamichthys gracilis Sazonov 1978 Latin for thin or slender, referring to its shallower body compared with congeners

Sagamichthys schnakenbecki (Krefft 1953) in honor of Werner Schnakenbeck (1887–1971), longtime director of the Institut für Seefischerei (Hamburg, Germany), on the occasion of his dispensation of government service

Searsia Parr 1937 –ia (L. suffix), belonging to: eponym not identified but certainly in honor of American naval commander and commodore Henry Sears (1913–1982), who funded the Sears Foundation for Marine Research in 1937, which Parr established

Searsia koefoedi Parr 1937 in honor of Norwegian marine biologist Einar Koefoed (1875–1963), who collected part of the type series in 1926 and authored several papers on deep-sea fishes

Searsioides Sazonov 1977 -oides, Neo-Latin from eí̄dos (Gr. εἶδος), form or shape: referring to “some similarities” (translation) with Searsia, original genus of type species, S. calvala

Searsioides calvala (Matsui & Rosenblatt 1979) calvus (L.), bald; ala (L.), upper part of arm, referring to its unscaled pectoral base

Searsioides multispinus Sazonov 1977 multi– (L.), many; spinus, from spina (L.), thorn or spine, referring to its many gill-rakers, the most in the family