Revised 5 Jan. 2026
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Anomalops Kner 1868 anama-, from anomalum (L.), anomalous (i.e., deviating from the norm); ṓps (ὦψ), eye, referring to two gland-like organs beneath its eyes, “to which no analogy among fishes is known” (translation) [Kner was not aware that these glands were luminous]

Anomalops katoptron (Bleeker 1856) kátoptron (κάτοπτρον), mirror, referring to inside of light organ enclosed by a guanine crystal reflector (although Bleeker was unaware of the specific structure and function of this reflector)

Kryptophanaron Silvester & Fowler 1926 kryptόs (κρυπτός), hidden; phānárion (φανάριον), torch or lantern, referring to phosphorescent organ under eye, which can be covered by a “membranous curtain”

Kryptophanaron alfredi Silvester & Fowler 1926 in honor of American businessman Alfred Mitchell (1832–1911), who lived in Jamaica and provided collecting opportunities for Princeton biologist Ulrich Dahlgren (1870–1946), who found holotype floating on the surface

Parmops Rosenblatt & Johnson 1991 pármē (πάρμη), a light shield or buckler; ṓps (ὦψ), eye, referring to first four infraorbital bones, which are expanded laterally to form a shelf beneath the eye

Parmops coruscans Rosenblatt & Johnson 1991 Latin for flaming or flashing, referring to ovoid luminous organ below eye

Parmops echinatus Johnson, Seeto & Rosenblatt 2001 Latin for prickly, referring to strongly ctenoid scales and well-developed spination on head and fin rays

Photoblepharon Weber 1902 phōtō– (φωτω-), combining form of phṓs (φῶς), light; blépharon (βλέφαρον), eyelid; Weber was among the first scientists to understand that there is a luminescent patch under each eye and that the fish uses an elastic black skin (functioning like an eyelid) that reveals or conceals this patch, in effect blinking it on and off at will

Photoblepharon palpebratum (Boddaert 1781) -atum (L.), provided with: palpebra (L.), eyelid, referring to skin folds that slide up to cover the eyes in the manner of an eyelid (blinking the luminous organs on and off, but this was unknown to Boddaert)

Photoblepharon steinitzi Abe & Haneda 1973 in honor of the late Heinz Steinitz (1909–1971), marine biologist and herpetologist (Hebrew University, Jerusalem), who sent specimens to the first author and suggested he describe it

Phthanophaneron Johnson & Rosenblatt 1988 phthánō (φθάνω), do first or before others, i.e., early; phaneron, from phanerós (φανερός), shining or visible, referring to apparent primitiveness of the manner in which it occludes its continuously shining luminous organ

Phthanophaneron harveyi (Rosenblatt & Montgomery 1976) in honor of American zoologist Edmund Newton Harvey (1887–1959), Princeton University (New Jersey, USA), a specialist in bioluminescence, for his “pioneering” investigations of the biology of the Anomalopidae

Protoblepharon Baldwin, Johnson & Paxton 1997 prṓtos (πρῶτος), first; blépharon (βλέφαρον), eyelid, referring to cladistic position of genus as first in the lineage of flashlight fishes that occlude the light organ with an erectable shutter

Protoblepharon mccoskeri Ho & Johnson 2012 in honor of American ichthyologist John E. McCosker (b. 1945), California Academy of Sciences, for his interest in and contribution to our knowledge of flashlight fishes

Protoblepharon rosenblatti Baldwin, Johnson & Paxton 1997 in honor of American ichthyologist Richard H. Rosenblatt (1930–2014), Scripps Institution of Oceanography, a mentor to the second author and friend and valuable colleague to all three, for his contributions to the systematics and functional morphology of flashlight fishes, which have shed much light on the evolution and biology of the Anomalopidae