Revised 10 Nov. 2025
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Bregmaceros Thompson 1840 brégma (βρέγμα), bone directly above the brain; ceros, from kerás (κεράς), horn, referring to occipital ray emerging from top of head of B. mcclellandi

Bregmaceros anchovia Ho, Endo & Lee 2020 Anchovia, a genus of anchovies (Clupeiformes: Engraulidae), referring to its anchovy-like outline

Bregmaceros arabicus D’Ancona & Cavinato 1965 -icus (L.), belonging to: Arabian Sea, type locality

Bregmaceros atlanticus Goode & Bean 1886 -icus (L.), belonging to: referring to its occurrence in the Atlantic Ocean relative to the similar B. mcclellandi from the western Pacific (actually a circumglobal species, including the Mediterranean Sea)

Bregmaceros bathymaster Jordan & Bollman 1890 bathýs (βαθύς), deep; mastḗr (μαστήρ), seeker, allusion not explained, presumably referring to its habitat (holotype collected at 86 m)

Bregmaceros cantori Milliken & Houde 1984 in honor of Danish naturalist Theodor Edvard Cantor (1809–1860), who discovered and was the first to describe Bregmaceros in a manuscript that was “unfortunately mislaid” (see B. mcclellandi, below); authors state that Cantor died before his manuscript could be published but do not mention that the manuscript had been lost

Bregmaceros cayorum Nichols 1952 -orum (L.), belonging to (plural): cayo, Spanish for small island (“key” in English), referring to type locality, “west of Cay Sal” in the Straits of Florida (USA)

Bregmaceros houdei Saksena & Richards 1986 in honor of Edward D. Houde (Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, Solomons, Maryland, USA), for providing type specimens and reviewing the authors’ manuscript (the authors note: “Dr. Houde’s name is often mispronounced, so please note that the pronunciation of houdei is hood-eye and not how-dee-eye, whodee-eye or hud-dee-eye”)

Bregmaceros japonicus Tanaka 1908 -icus (L.), belonging to Japan, proposed as a subspecies of B. atlanticus known only from Japan

Bregmaceros lanceolatus Shen 1960 Latin for lance-like, referring to its pointed caudal fin

Bregmaceros mcclellandi Thompson 1840 based on a manuscript name (“unfortunately mislaid”) by Danish naturalist Theodor Edvard Cantor (1809–1860), in honor of his friend John McClelland (1805–1875), physician and ichthyologist, “whose researches in the Biology and Geology of India [type locality] are well known” [sometimes spelled macclellandi]

Bregmaceros moseri Harold & Baltzegar 2023 in honor of the late H Geoffrey Moser (1938–2021), who “contributed hugely” to our understanding of the biodiversity of mid-water fishes; in 1996, he referred to larval and post-metamorphic juveniles that, based on the data provided, are probably early stages of this species (the absence of a period after “H” in his name is not a typo; “H,” and only “H,” is actually his given name, the first initial of both of his parents’ names)

Bregmaceros nectabanus Whitley 1941 etymology not explained; since Whitley sometimes coined fish names inspired by literary characters (e.g., Figaro, Malvoliophus), here’s a guess: named after Nectabanus, a dwarf in Sir Walter Scott’s 1825 novel The Talisman, referring to small size of Bregmaceros species in general or the size of this species (described at 31.75 mm) in particular

Bregmaceros neonectabanus Masuda, Ozawa & Tabeta 1986 néos (νέος), new, i.e., a new species previously reported as a form of B. nectabanus

Bregmaceros pseudolanceolatus Torii, Javonillo & Ozawa 2004 pseudo-, from pseúdēs (ψεύδης), false, i.e., although it may closely resemble B. lanceolatus, such an appearance is false

Bregmaceros rarisquamosus Munro 1950 rarus (L.), thinly scattered; squamosus (L.), scaly, with “considerably less horizontal and vertical tracts of scales” compared with the similar B. nectabanus

Bregmaceros retrodorsalis Ho & Endo 2020 retro– (L.), back; dorsalis (L.), of the back, referring to backward position of second dorsal fin