Revised 5 Dec. 2025
PDF version (illustrated)

Muraenolepis Günther 1880 muraena, (L.), from mýraina (μύραινα), Greek name of Muraena helena and precursor to “moray,” probably used here as a general term for eels, referring to their superficial eel-like appearance, with low dorsal and anal fins that merge and are continuous with caudal fin; lepís (λεπίς), scale, referring to body of M. marmorata covered with “epidermoid productions which are lanceolate, intersecting with each other at right angles, like those of a fresh-water eel”

Muraenolepis andriashevi Balushkin & Prirodina 2005 in honor of Russian ichthyologist Anatoly Petrovich Andriashev (1910–2009), who at the time was about to reach his 95th birthday: “The authors have had the privilege to work with this remarkable scientist for many years, and he has proven to be a benevolent and wise guide, and an intelligent and widely-educated person. His fundamental scientific works and, to no smaller degree, his dedication to science and sense of responsibility will be an example to all researchers whose creative interests are related to the study of ichthyology and marine biogeography for years to come” (translation)

Muraenolepis evseenkoi Balushkin & Prirodina 2010 in honor of Russian ichthyologist Sergei Afanas’evich Evseenko (1949–2020), for his considerable “contribution” to the study of Antarctic fishes

Muraenolepis kuderskii Balushkin & Prirodina 2007 in honor of Leonid Aleksandrovich Kuderski (or Kudersky, 1929–2015), “famous ichthyologist, administrator of Russian fishery science, and an outstanding expert of the freshwater fishes of Russia” (translation), on the occasion of his 80th birthday

Muraenolepis marmorata Günther 1880 Latin for marbled, referring to its reddish body, “finely marbled with brown”

Muraenolepis orangiensis Vaillant 1888 -ensis, Latin suffix denoting place: Orange Bay, Strait of Magellan, type locality

Muraenolepis pacifica Prirodina & Balushkin 2007 -ica (L.), belonging to: Pacific Ocean (Antarctic Rise at Hercules and Umanov banks), where, in addition to Southern Ocean, it occurs

Muraenolepis trunovi Balushkin & Prirodina 2006 in honor of Russian ichthyologist Ivan Andreevich Trunov (1936–2005), Atlantic Research Institute of Fisheries and Oceanography, “an enthusiastic and indefatigable investigator of the seas of the World Ocean …, a great expert in the marine ichthyofauna, and a remarkable fish collector … who made a substantial contribution to investigations of the species richness and to the taxonomy of many fish groups” and “artfully combined his fundamental investigations with the applied tasks of scouting and the commercial development of marine fish stock” (translation)

Notomuraenobathys Balushkin & Prirodina 2010 nótos (νότος), south wind (more broadly, southern); muraeno, abridgement of Muraenolepis, type genus of family; bathýs (βαθύς), i.e., a genus similar to and/or formerly placed in Muraenolepis that occurs at bathyal depths of high latitudes of the Southern Ocean

Notomuraenobathys microcephalus (Norman 1937) small-headed, from mikrós (μικρός), small, and kephalḗ (κεφαλή), head, referring to its smaller head compared with Muraenolepis orangiensis, its presumed congener at the time