COMMENTS
v. 6.0 – 22 Sept. 2021 view/download PDF
6 families • 11 genera • 28 species
Family VELIFERIDAE Velifers
Metavelifer Walters 1960 meta-, after, i.e., after Velifer, assuming this genus is more specialized than Velifer
Metavelifer multiradiatus (Regan 1907) multi-, many; radiatus, rayed, referring to more dorsal- and anal-fin rays compared to Velifer hypselopterus, its presumed congener at the time
Velifer Temminck & Schlegel 1850 velum, sail; fero, to bear, referring to long dorsal fin, extending nearly entire length of back [proposed without species, which explains why genus predates species]
Velifer hypselopterus Bleeker 1879 hypselos, high; pterus, fin, referring to anteriorly elevated dorsal fin
Family LAMPRIDAE Opahs
Lampris Retzius 1799 radiant, brilliant or shining, referring to brilliant coloration of L. guttatus
Subgenus Lampris
Lampris australensis Underkoffler, Luers, Hyde & Craig 2018 -ensis, suffix denoting place: southern, referring to its known range in the southern hemisphere
Lampris guttatus (Brünnich 1788) spotted, referring to the many white spots that cover its flanks
Lampris incognitus Underkoffler, Luers, Hyde & Craig 2018 strange or unknown, referring to the “strange or unknown presence of multiple species of opahs [i.e., five distinct, monophyletic lineages previously within L. guttatus] in the same geographic region” (Matthew T. Craig, pers. comm.)
Lampris lauta Lowe 1860 elegant, allusion not explained, presumably referring to its coloration: reddish-orange fins in life, with oblong and irregular white spots over uniformly silver body extending onto anal fin
Lampris megalopsis Underkoffler, Luers, Hyde & Craig 2018 mega-, big or large; ops, eye, referring to its larger eye compared to congeners
Subgenus Paralampris Kukuev 2021 para-, near, a subgenus of Lampris, distinguished (in part) by its terete “bomb-shaped” (translation) body, unlike the strongly compressed body of the other five species
Lampris immaculatus Gilchrist 1904 im-, not; maculata, spotted, no white spots on any part of body unlike L. guttatus
Family LOPHOTIDAE Crestfishes
2 genera • 5 species
Eumecichthys Regan 1907 eumeco-, of good length, referring to long (described at 127 cm) and elongate body; ichthys, fish
Eumecichthys fiski (Günther 1890) in honor of Rev. George Henry Redmore Fisk (1829-1911), a collector of zoological curiosities in South Africa, who “kindly submitted” this “highly interesting fish” and specimens of other animals
Lophotus Giorna 1809 crested, referring to crest (anterior rays of dorsal fin) originating above or before tip of snout
Lophotus capellei Temminck & Schlegel 1845 in honor of Godert Alexander Gerard Philip, Baron van der Capellen (1778-1848), Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (1815-1825) and a “dear friend of science” (translation)
Lophotus guentheri Johnston 1883 in honor of ichthyologist-herpetologist Albert Günther (1830-1914), British Museum (Natural History), whose Catalogue of Fishes of the British Museum is cited as a reference for the genus [originally spelled “guntheri” but corrected to “guentheri” per ICZN Art. 32.5.2.1]
Lophotus lacepede Giorna 1809 in honor of Bernard-Germain-Étienne de La Ville-sur-Illon, comte de [count of] La Cepède (also spelled as La Cépède, Lacépède, or Lacepède, 1756-1825), author of Histoire Naturelle des Poissons, first five volumes (1798-1803) [a noun in apposition, without the patronymic “i”]
Lophotus machadoi Miranda Ribeiro 1927 in honor of Rev. Francisco Machado da Silva, who collected and/or donated specimens to the Museu Nacional (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), making him a “good friend” (translation) of the museum
Family RADIICEPHALIDAE Tapertails
Radiicephalus Osório 1917 radii, rays; cephalus, head, referring to long anterior rays of dorsal fin on upper part of head
Radiicephalus elongatus Osório 1917 elongate, referring to its long, compressed body
Radiicephalus kessinger Koeda & Ho 2018 Latin for scarecrow, referring to its tattered, ribbon-like body
Family TRACHIPTERIDAE Ribbonfishes
3 genera • 11 species
Desmodema Walters & Fitch 1960 desmos, band; demas, body (the “s” deleted for euphony), referring to slim, ribbon-like body
Desmodema lorum Rosenblatt & Butler 1977 Latin for whip, referring to its elongate tail
Desmodema polystictum (Ogilby 1898) poly, many; stictum, spotted, referring to numerous spots on head and body
Trachipterus Goüan 1770 trachy, rough; pterus, fin, referring to rough (i.e., granular) dorsal- and ventral-fin rays
Trachipterus altivelis Kner 1859 altus, high; velum, sail, probably referring to its large and long dorsal fin, extending nearly entire length of back
Trachipterus arawatae Clarke 1881 of Arawata, Jackson’s Bay, New Zealand, where the type specimen had been trapped during low tide in a pool used as a store-pond for keeping mussel-bait alive for fishing
Trachipterus arcticus (Brünnich 1771) latinization of arktikos, Greek for northern, presumably referring to occurrence in the North Atlantic Ocean based on Iceland type locality (also occurs in North Sea and Mediterranean Sea)
Trachipterus fukuzakii Fitch 1964 in honor of Ben Fukuzaki, a San Pedro (California, USA) boat owner and fisherman “whose keen interest in the creatures of the sea has led him to save and donate to science most of the animals he captures that are either unknown to him or which he recognizes as rare or unusual,” including more than 15 young and adult ribbonfish of three species and the first two known specimens of this species
Trachipterus ishikawae Jordan & Snyder 1901 in honor of biologist Chiyomatsu Ishikawa (1861-1935), Curator of the Imperial Museum, Tokyo Imperial University
Trachipterus jacksonensis (Ramsay 1881) –ensis, suffix denoting place: Port Jackson, New South Wales, Australia, type locality (but occurs throughout Southern Hemisphere)
Trachipterus trachypterus (Gmelin 1789) trachy, rough; pterus, fin, referring to sharp, serrated and rough (i.e., granular) fins (“pinnis aculeatis serratis scabris”)
Zu Walters & Fitch 1960 Zu, the storm god of Babylonian mythology, “a fitting name … since, until recent years, these fishes were known mainly from individuals found cast ashore in the wakes of storms”
Zu cristatus (Bonelli 1820) crested, referring to long anterior rays of dorsal fin on upper part of head (sometimes called a nuchal crest or pennant)
Zu elongatus Heemstra & Kannemeyer 1984 referring to its more elongate body compared to Z. cristatus
Family REGALECIDAE Oarfishes
Agrostichthys Phillipps 1924 etymology not explained, perhaps agrostis, a forage grass, referring to its body shape, “one of the most strikingly attenuate fishes yet known from the ocean depths”; ichthys, fish
Agrostichthys parkeri (Benham 1904) in memory of Benham’s predecessor, zoologist Thomas Jeffery Parker (1850-1897), University of Otago (New Zealand), who made a “careful study” of the anatomy of Regalecus glesne in 1886
Regalecus Ascanius 1772 rex, king; halecum, herring, literally “King of the Herrings”; according to folklore, North Sea fishermen associated the appearance of Regalecus with the arrival of great schools of herrings, and they sometimes regarded Regalecus itself as a giant herring
Regalecus glesne Ascanius 1772 latinization of Glesnaes, a farm at Glesvær, Norway, type locality
Regalecus russelii (Cuvier 1816) in honor of surgeon-herpetologist Patrick Russell (1726-1805), whose 1803 account of an oarfish from India served as the basis for Shaw’s non-Linnaean name (“Russelian Gymnetrus”) in 1803, later given as a binomial by Cuvier (who, unfortunately, continued Shaw’s mistake of misspelling Russell’s name by omitting an “l”)