COMMENTS
v. 6.0 – 26 July 2024 view/download PDF
Family EPINEPHELIDAE Groupers
16 genera · 191 species
Aethaloperca Fowler 1904 aethalos, sooty or black, presumably referring to pale-brown to black color of A. rogaa; perca, perch, i.e., a perch-like fish [treated as a synonym of Cephalopholis by some workers]
Aethaloperca rogaa (Fabricius 1775) Rogáa, Arabic name for the grouper along the Red Sea of Saudi Arabia
Alphestes Bloch & Schneider 1801 ancient Greek name for a greedy, incontinent fish with a bad reputation, sometimes said to swim in pairs, one behind the other, possibly Symphodus tinca (per Jordan & Evermann 1896), a wrasse; its application to a grouper is not explained
Alphestes afer (Bloch 1793) African, described from Guinea, West Africa (but also occurs in western Atlantic from Bermuda and North Carolina south to Uruguay, including southern Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea)
Alphestes immaculatus Breder 1936 im-, not; maculatus, spotted, referring to plain coloration (actually mottled, with spotted fins), compared to the profusely spotted P. multiguttatus
Alphestes multiguttatus (Günther 1867) multi-, many; guttatus, spotted, referring to head and body profusely covered with dark-brown spots (which often coalesce to form horizontal streaks)
Anyperodon Günther 1859 etymology not explained, presumably an-, not; [h]yper, upper; odon, tooth, referring to absence of teeth on palatine
Anyperodon leucogrammicus (Valenciennes 1828) leucos, white; grammicus, lined, referring to three whitish longitudinal bands on sides
Cephalopholis Bloch & Schneider 1801 cephalus, head; pholis, scale, referring to completely scaled head of C. argus
Cephalopholis aitha Randall & Heemstra 1991 from the Greek aithos, burnt or reddish, referring to overall body color
Cephalopholis argus Schneider 1801 etymology not explained, perhaps named for Argus, mythical hundred-eyed guardian of Io, whose eyes after death where transformed into the feathers of a peacock, referring to numerous small, dark-edged iridescent blue spots on smaller specimens (larger specimens sometimes develop 4-6 lighter vertical bars on posterior half of body)
Cephalopholis aurantia (Valenciennes 1828) orange-colored, referring to orange-red to orange-yellow or golden color of body in life
Cephalopholis boenak (Bloch 1790) from Ikan Boenak (Ikan=fish), Indonesian name for this species (although Bloch believed it was from Japan)
Cephalopholis colonus (Valenciennes 1846) latinization of Colon, local name for Serranus creolus (=C. furcifer) in the Antilles, which this species closely resembles
Cephalopholis cruentata (Lacepède 1802) blood-red, referring to red body color (actually gray, brown or olive) dotted with small dark-red spots
Cephalopholis cyanostigma (Valenciennes 1828) cyano-, blue; stigma, mark or spot, referring to numerous small black-edged blue spots on head, body and fins
Cephalopholis formosa (Shaw 1812) beautiful, presumably referring to appearance of its “numerous longitudinal deep-yellow stripes” (which are actually blue)
Cephalopholis fulva (Linnaeus 1758) fulvus, brownish yellow (but often used to mean yellow in general), possibly referring to its shallow-water orange-brown phase, or a xanthic or yellow phase known from shallow to deep water
Cephalopholis furcifer (Valenciennes 1828) furca, fork; fero, to bear, allusion not explained, probably referring to deeply forked caudal fin
Cephalopholis hemistiktos (Rüppell 1830) hemi-, partial; stiktos, mark or spot, presumably referring to sky-blue dots more numerous on head, operculum and belly
Cephalopholis igarashiensis Katayama 1957 –ensis, a suffix usually denoting place but here used for a patronym: in honor of Shoji Igarashi (no other information available), who collected type
Cephalopholis leopardus (Lacepède 1801) referring to red-orange spots on head and body, “so as to imitate the colors of the leopard” (translation)
Cephalopholis microprion (Bleeker 1852) micro-, small; prion, saw, presumably referring to fine serrations on posterior margin of preopercle
Cephalopholis miniata (Forsskål 1775) bright red or cinnabar red, referring to body color of adults (which varies from orange-red to reddish-brown)
Cephalopholis nigri (Günther 1859) of the mouth of the Niger River, Nigeria, type locality (occurs in Mediterranean Sea off Malta and eastern Atlantic from Canary Islands and Senegal south to Angola, including Madeira and islands in the Gulf of Guinea)
Cephalopholis nigripinnis (Valenciennes 1828) nigri-, black; pinnis, fin, referring to dark-brown or blackish fins
Cephalopholis oligosticta Randall & Ben-Tuvia 1983 oligos, few; stiktos, spotted, referring to widely scattered blue spots, in sharp contrast to the numerous blue spots of its apparent closest relative, C. miniata
Cephalopholis panamensis (Steindachner 1876) –ensis, suffix denoting place: Pacific coast of Panama, type locality (occurs from Gulf of California south to Ecuador, including Galápagos Islands)
Cephalopholis polleni (Bleeker 1868) in honor of Dutch naturalist and merchant François Pollen (1842-1888), who collected type with Dutch explorer and naturalist Douwe Casparus van Dam (1827-1898)
Cephalopholis polyspila Randall & Satapoomin 2000 poly, many; spilos, spot, referring to numerous small blue spots on head, body and fins
Cephalopholis sexmaculata (Rüppell 1830) sex, six; maculatus, spotted, referring to six large quadrangular black blotches on back (the first four extending basally onto dorsal fin, the last two on caudal peduncle)
Cephalopholis sonnerati (Valenciennes 1828) in honor of Pierre Sonnerat (1748-1814), French explorer, naturalist and collector, who provisionally named this species Perca rubra and whose manuscript provided the descriptive material for Valenciennes
Cephalopholis spiloparaea (Valenciennes 1828) spilos, mark or spot; pareius, cheeked, described as having “numerous and well marked” brown spots on cheeks “but barely visible on body” (translation)
Cephalopholis taeniops (Valenciennes 1828) taenia, band; ops, eye, referring to horizontal blue line or streak below eye
Cephalopholis urodeta (Forster 1801) etymology not explained, perhaps [o]ura, tail and deta, an unknown word, presumably an adjective, emended to “delus” by Valenciennes (1828); if “delus” (from the Greek delos, visible) is correct, then name could refer to the two converging oblique bands on caudal fin, mentioned and illustrated by Forster, which could be interpreted as making the tail visible (i.e., distinctive or easily noticed)
Chromileptes Swainson 1839 etymology not explained nor evident (also spelled Cromileptes by Swainson; both spellings are in current usage)
Chromileptes altivelis (Valenciennes 1828) altus, high; velum, sail, referring to high dorsal fin, then believed to be higher than any other presumed congener in Serranus
Dermatolepis Gill 1861 dermatos, skin; lepis, scale, referring to small cycloid scales of D. punctatus (=dermatolepis), embedded in the skin
Dermatolepis dermatolepis (Boulenger 1895) dermatos, skin; lepis, scale, referring to small cycloid scales, embedded in the skin [replacement name for Dermatolepis punctatus Gill 1861, preoccupied in Epinephelus by Holocentrus punctatus Bloch 1790]
Dermatolepis inermis (Valenciennes 1833) unarmed, referring to “barely distinct” (translation) opercular spine
Dermatolepis striolata (Playfair 1867) striped, referring to ~15 “more or less undulated series of short brown streaks, which are sometimes confluent” on body of juveniles (adults are spotted)
Epinephelus Bloch 1793 epinéphelos, ancient Greek for “clouded over,” referring to film or membrane eye of most if not all groupers known to Bloch (although modern accounts mention only a transparent cornea protruding slightly through the orbit); Bloch also provided three vernacular names that describe the eyes: Blödaugen, German for “stupid eyes” or “bleary eyes,” depending on the translation, the English “Wall-eye,” and the French Tayes (per Bloch 1797), from taie, an opaque spot on the cornea
Epinephelus adscensionis (Osbeck 1765) –ensis, suffix denoting place: Ascension Island, southeastern Atlantic, type locality (occurs in western Atlantic from Massachusetts throughout the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean and south to Brazil, Saint Helena and Ascension islands, eastern Atlantic of Azores, and Gulf of Guinea)
Epinephelus aeneus (Geoffroy St. Hilaire 1817) bronze, described from a plate, probably referring to greenish-bronze body color
Epinephelus akaara (Temminck & Schlegel 1843) from Aka-ara, its name in Nagasaki, Japan, type locality (occurs in northwest Pacific from China and Taiwan to Korea and Japan)
Epinephelus albomarginatus Boulenger 1903 albus, white; marginatus, edged or bordered, referring to white margins on caudal fin and soft portions of dorsal and anal fins
Epinephelus amblycephalus (Bleeker 1857) ambly, blunt; cephalus, head, referring to its blunt profile
Epinephelus analogus Gill 1863 similar, allusion not explained; according to Jordan & Evermann (1896), referring to its form and coloration resembling those of E. adscensionis
Epinephelus andersoni Boulenger 1903 in honor of Alexander Anderson (Durban, South Africa), a collector and purveyor of natural history specimens, “who takes a great interest in the fishes in which he deals,” and who brought to England six new perciform fishes from the coast of Natal, including E. albomarginatus and this one
Epinephelus areolatus (Forsskål 1775) with areolae, presumably referring to numerous rounded brownish spots on body and fins
Epinephelus awoara (Temminck & Schlegel 1843) from Awo-ara, its name in Nagasaki, Japan, type locality (occurs in western Pacific from Viet Nâm east to Philippines, north to Japan)
Epinephelus bilobatus Randall & Allen 1987 bi-, two; lobatus, lobed, referring to series of three bilobed or close-set pairs of dark-brown spots along dorsal-fin base
Epinephelus bleekeri (Vaillant 1878) in honor of Dutch medical doctor and ichthyologist Pieter Bleeker (1819-1878), whose 1849 account of Serranus variolosus (=E. fasciatus) served as the basis for Vaillant’s description
Epinephelus bontoides (Bleeker 1855) –oides, having the form of: Serranus bontoo (=E. faveatus), its presumed closest relative at the time
Epinephelus bruneus Bloch 1793 brown, referring to dark grayish-brown body color, with darker brown blotches or spots
Epinephelus caninus (Valenciennes 1843) dog, named for Cachorro, Spanish for a pup or young dog, its local name on the Canary Islands (type locality)
Epinephelus chlorocephalus (Valenciennes 1830) chloros, green; cephalus, head, described as having dark-green snout and dorsal part of head [an uncertain species, known from only one specimen in poor condition]
Epinephelus chlorostigma (Valenciennes 1828) chloros, green; stigma, mark or spot, referring to olive (actually brown) spots on body and fins
Epinephelus clippertonensis Allen & Robertson 1999 –ensis, suffix denoting place: Clipperton Island, eastern Pacific, type locality
Epinephelus coeruleopunctatus (Bloch 1790) coeruluo-, blue; punctatus, spotted, described as having blue spots on fins (actually pale or white) [unnecessarily emended to caeruleopunctatus by many authors]
Epinephelus coioides (Hamilton 1822) –oides, having the form of: referring to presumed close relationship with Coius (=Anabas, Anabantiformes: Anabantidae)
Epinephelus corallicola (Valenciennes 1828) –icola, dweller or inhabitant, i.e., coral dwelling, allusion not explained, presumably referring to its habitat (a shallow-water grouper generally occurring over silty reefs)
Epinephelus costae (Steindachner 1878) in honor of Italian zoologist Oronzo Gabriele Costa (1787-1867), who reported this species as Plectropomus (now Epinephelus) fasciatus in 1844 [although named after a man, some classically trained zoologists latinized the names of individuals whose names ended with the letter “a” by adding an “e” to the spelling]
Epinephelus craigi Frable, Tucker & Walker 2018 in honor of fisheries scientist Matthew T. Craig (b. 1976), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, for his “significant” contributions to the conservation and scientific understanding of groupers and their relatives
Epinephelus cyanopodus (Richardson 1846) cyano-, blue; podus, foot, latinization of Ching te (“Blue foot”), its Chinese name as given by John Reeves, who painted fishes (including this one) while working as a tea inspector in China (1812-1831), described as having blue fins (including the pelvic, homologous to the foot) or yellowish-gray with blue bases (pectoral)
Epinephelus daemelii (Günther 1876) in honor of Eduard C. F. Dämle (1821-1900, also known as Dämel or Daemel), German entomologist and collector-dealer of natural history specimens; he obtained type in Australia collecting for the Godeffroy Museum (Hamburg)
Epinephelus diacanthus (Valenciennes 1828) di-, two; acanthus, thorn or spine, referring to two strong spines (varying from 1-5) at angle of operculum
Epinephelus epistictus (Temminck & Schlegel 1843) epi-, on or over; stictos, mark or spot, presumably referring to fins (except pectorals) dotted with dark spots, and/or very small dark-brown spots on body, often concentrated on upper half
Epinephelus erythrurus (Valenciennes 1828) erythros, red; oura, tail, described as having a red tail (actually brown)
Epinephelus fasciatomaculosus (Peters 1865) fasciatus, banded, referring to five dark-brown bars on body (prominent on juveniles, faint on adults and in alcohol), and maculosus, spotted, referring to two large spots on spinous dorsal fin (perhaps a continuation of the bars); although this grouper has numerous small brownish spots on its body, Peters did not mention these in his brief description
Epinephelus fasciatus (Forsskål 1775) banded, referring to 5-6 faint dark bars usually present on body
Epinephelus faveatus (Valenciennes 1828) honey-combed, referring to its hexagonal spots, “forming on the body of the fish a network similar to a bee hive” (translation)
Epinephelus flavocaeruleus (Lacepède 1802) flavus, yellow, referring to color of fins (and caudal peduncle); caeruleus, referring to bluish body and head
Epinephelus fuscoguttatus (Forsskål 1775) fuscus, dark or dusky; guttatus, spotted, presumably referring to many small dark-brown spots on body, but perhaps also including larger and more prominent dark blotches
Epinephelus fuscomarginatus Johnson & Worthington Wilmer 2019 fuscus, dark or dusky; marginatus, edged or bordered, referring to broad dark-brown margins on unpaired fins
Epinephelus gabriellae Randall & Heemstra 1991 in honor of marine biologist Gabriella Bianchi, who provided data on and photographs of specimens from Oman
Epinephelus geoffroyi (Klunzinger 1870) in honor of naturalist Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (1772-1844), who reported this grouper as Serranus tauvinus (now E. tauvina) in 1809
Epinephelus goreensis (Valenciennes 1830) –ensis, suffix denoting place: Gorée, Senegal, type locality (occurs in eastern Atlantic from Mauritania to Angola, including Cape Verde Islands and Gulf of Guinea)
Epinephelus guttatus (Linnaeus 1758) spotted, referring to numerous orange-red to brown spots covering head, body and fins
Epinephelus heniochus Fowler 1904 charioteer, the “streaks on side of head suggesting a bridle or reins”
Epinephelus hexagonatus (Forster 1801) referring to hexagonal (some pentagonal) brown spots densely covering head and body (which tend to merge on sides, leaving only triangular white dots at corners of the polygons)
Epinephelus howlandi (Günther 1873) of Howland Island, central Pacific, type locality (occurs from China Sea and southern Japan throughout the west-central Pacific east to the Line Islands, south to Lord Howe Island)
Epinephelus indistinctus Randall & Heemstra 1991 indistinct, referring to its “lack of clearly diagnostic characters,” i.e., all of its characters when taken collectively set it apart from its congeners
Epinephelus insularis Nakamura & Motomura 2021 of islands, referring to its habitat, insular regions from southern Japan (Osumi, Tokara, Amami, and Ogasawara islands), Indonesia, and Micronesia (Caroline and Marshall islands)
Epinephelus irroratus (Forster 1801) sprinkled or covered with granules, referring to white dot on each scale (may not persist in alcohol)
Epinephelus itajara (Lichtenstein 1822) derived from itaiara, presumably a Portuguese or local Brazilian name for this species or E. guttatus first reported in Marcgrave’s Historiae naturalis brasiliae (1648)
Epinephelus japonicus (Temminck & Schlegel 1843) Japanese, described from a stuffed specimen from Japan
Epinephelus jayakari (Boulenger 1889) in honor of Atmaram Sadashiva Grandin Jayakar (1844-1911), surgeon, Indian Medical Service, and collector of natural history, who provided many fishes from Muscat, Oman, to the British Museum, including type of this one
Epinephelus kupangensis Tucker, Kurniasih & Craig 2016 –ensis, suffix denoting place: Kupang, Indonesia, the center of the Timor Sea fishery that provided the first author with holotype and several paratypes (occurs in western Pacific from eastern Indonesia east to Taiwan, Philippines and Fiji, north to Kochi, Japan)
Epinephelus labriformis (Jenyns 1840) Labrus, wrasse genus (Labriformes); formis, shape, referring to oblong-oval shape, “very much the aspect of a Labrus”
Epinephelus lanceolatus (Bloch 1790) lanceolate, described as having fins that taper to a point (they do not in our opinion, possibly referring to a juvenile)
Epinephelus latifasciatus (Temminck & Schlegel 1843) latus, wide; fasciatus, banded, referring to two broad, white longitudinal bands, edged in black, one from above eye to base of soft dorsal fin, the other from cheek to lower caudal peduncle
Epinephelus lebretonianus (Hombron & Jacquinot 1853) –ianus, belonging to: etymology not explained, probably named for Louis Le Breton (1818-1866), assistant surgeon and artist/draftsman aboard the Astrolabe, from which type was collected during Dumont d’Urville’s second voyage to the South Seas (1837-1840), and who probably painted the only known image of the only known specimen (type locality unknown)
Epinephelus longispinis (Kner 1864) longus, long; spinis, spine, referring to third and fourth dorsal-fin spines, equal to ~½ length of head (and distinctly higher than longest soft dorsal-fin ray)
Epinephelus macrospilos (Bleeker 1855) macro-, large; spilos, mark or spot, referring to dark-brown spots on body and fins
Epinephelus maculatus (Bloch 1790) spotted, referring to “fine meshwork” (translation) of spots on head and body, some as large as eye
Epinephelus magniscuttis Postel, Fourmanoir & Guézé 1963 magni-, large; scuttis, presumably derived from scutum, shield, probably referring to what the authors described as its large scales, <80 along lateral line
Epinephelus malabaricus (Bloch & Schneider 1801) –icus, belonging to: Malabar (i.e., southern India), presumably referring to Tranquebar (now Tharangambadi), Tamil Nadu, India, type locality (occurs in Red Sea and Indo-West Pacific from East Africa, Madagascar and western Mascarenes east to Tonga, north to southern Japan, south to Western Australia and New South Wales)
Epinephelus marginatus (Lowe 1834) edged or bordered, referring to white (often golden yellow) margins on paired, caudal and spinous dorsal fins
Epinephelus melanostigma Schultz 1953 melanos, black; stigma, mark or spot, referring to single blackish blotch at base of dorsal fin
Epinephelus merra Bloch 1793 from Ikan Meer (Ikan=fish), Indonesian name for this grouper
Epinephelus miliaris (Valenciennes 1830) –arius, pertaining to: mille, thousand, presumably referring to numerous small brownish-yellow spots on body and head
Epinephelus moara (Temminck & Schlegel 1843) from Mo-ara, its name in Nagasaki, Japan, type locality (occurs in northwestern Pacific from South China Sea to Japan)
Epinephelus morio (Valenciennes 1828) according to Jordan & Evermann (1896), latinization of Moor, translation of the nègre, local name for this grouper at Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, both used as derogatory words for dark-skinned people
Epinephelus morrhua (Valenciennes 1833) latinization of morue, from vieille morue (“old cod”), its local name at Martinique (type locality), because it is salted like cod and eaten when cod is out of season
Epinephelus multinotatus (Peters 1876) multi-, many; notatus, marked, proposed without a description, probably referring to scattered irregular whitish blotches of variable size on body and smaller ones on head (juveniles also have white blotches on fins)
Epinephelus ongus (Bloch 1790) latinization of ongo, from Ikan Ongo (Ikan=fish), Indonesian name for this fish (although Bloch believed it was from Japan)
Epinephelus poecilonotus (Temminck & Schlegel 1843) poecilio-, varicolored; notus, back, referring to multiple configurations of white stripes on back and upper body of juveniles, starting from the top: (1) crescent-shaped, (2) curved line roughly parallel to the first, (3) along sides, (4) from eye to chest and then along sides
Epinephelus polylepis Randall & Heemstra 1991 poly, many; lepis, scale, referring to high scale counts on body compared to its closest congeners, E. chlorostigma and E. gabriellae
Epinephelus polyphekadion (Bleeker 1849) poly, many; phekadion, presumably from phakoeides, lentiform (shaped like a lentil), presumably referring to numerous small, close-set dark-brown spots on head, back and sides
Epinephelus polystigma (Bleeker 1853) poly, many; stigma, mark or spot, referring to white to yellowish-white “densely sown” (translation) spots on head, body and fins (except pelvic) on adults (often absent in preserved specimens)
Epinephelus posteli Fourmanoir & Crosnier 1964 patronym not identified, probably in honor of Emile Postel, ORSTOM (Office de la Recherche Scientifique et Technique d’Outre-Mer), who collaborated with the authors on a paper on serranid fishes in 1963
Epinephelus quinquefasciatus (Bocourt 1868) quinque, five; fasciatus, banded, referring to five oblique bars on body (3-4 on smaller specimens) that extend to dorsal and anal fins
Epinephelus quoyanus (Valenciennes 1830) –anus, belonging to: surgeon-naturalist Jean René Constant Quoy (1790-1869), who, with Joseph Paul Gaimard (1793-1858), collected type
Epinephelus radiatus (Day 1868) rayed, allusion not explained nor evident; Day mentioned fin rays twice: “Dorsal spines moderately strong and nearly as high as the rays, the interspinous membrane but slightly emarginated,” and “Caudal wedge-shaped, its central rays being slightly the longest”
Epinephelus rankini Whitley 1945 in honor of F. J. Rankin, postmaster at Onslow, Western Australia, who netted holotype, for his “valued specimens and notes of fishes from his district”
Epinephelus retouti Bleeker 1868 in honor of M. (Monsieur?) Retout of Mauritius, who contributed to the natural history collections made by François Pollen (see Cephalopholis polleni)
Epinephelus rivulatus (Valenciennes 1830) rivulated, i.e., marked by irregular streaks, referring to 3-4 wavy brown lines on cheek below eye
Epinephelus sexfasciatus (Valenciennes 1828) sex, six; fasciatus, banded, referring to five blackish (actually dark gray-brown) bars on body and one on nape
Epinephelus sicanus (Doderlein 1882) –anus, belonging to: Sicily, Italy, where type locality (Mediterranean Sea at Palermo) is situated (also known from Malta)
Epinephelus socialis (Günther 1873) social (i.e., of society), allusion not explained but almost certainly referring to its occurrence at the Society Islands of the South Pacific (also occurs at insular coral reefs from southern Japan to Pitcairn Islands)
Epinephelus spilotoceps Schultz 1953 spilotus, marked or spotted; ceps, head, referring to small black spots dorsally on front part of head
Epinephelus stictus Randall & Allen 1987 punctured or spotted, referring to sprinkling of tiny dark-brown spots on upper part of head and dorso-anteriorly on body
Epinephelus stoliczkae (Day 1875) in memory of Ferdinand Stoliczka (1838-1874), “friend, and fellow worker in zoology,” whose “untimely death” was “due to excess of zeal in the cause of Natural History” (Stoliczka, paleontologist for the Geological Survey of India, died of high-altitude sickness, then attributed to extreme cold, at the summit of the Karakorun Pass between India and China) [although named after a man, some classically trained zoologists latinized the names of individuals whose names ended with the letter “a” by adding an “e” to the spelling]
Epinephelus striatus (Bloch 1792) striped, described from an illustration showing six brown bands on upper body (in actuality, these stripes are more like irregular dark bars that extend to abdomen; also, some specimens display a bicolored spawning pattern absent of any bars)
Epinephelus suborbitalis Amaoka & Randall 1990 named for the “unusually deep” suborbital region of head
Epinephelus summana (Fabricius 1775) apparent latinization of Sum-mân, Arabic name for this grouper along the Red Sea
Epinephelus tauvina (Fabricius 1775) Tauvîna, Arabic name for this grouper along the Red Sea of Saudi Arabia
Epinephelus timorensis Randall & Allen 1987 –ensis, suffix denoting place: Timor Sea, where type locality (Dillon Shoals, Western Australia), is situated
Epinephelus trimaculatus (Valenciennes 1828) tri-, three; maculatus, spotted, referring to three black blotches on back: at base of posterior dorsal-fin spines, at midbase of soft dorsal fin, and on caudal peduncle
Epinephelus trophis Randall & Allen 1987 well-fed or plump, referring to robust body
Epinephelus tuamotuensis Fourmanoir 1971 –ensis, suffix denoting place: Tuamotu Archipelago, French Polynesia, type locality
Epinephelus tukula Morgans 1959 from Vielle tukula, its local name in the Seychelles, Vieille applied there to most groupers and tukula a Malagash word meaning “maneater,” referring to the fish’s size (up to 200 cm TL) and “reputation for taking man”
Epinephelus undulatostriatus (Peters 1866) undulatus, wavy; striatus, striped, referring to numerous irregular, undulating longitudinal lines on body
Epinephelus undulosus (Quoy & Gaimard 1824) with wavy lines, referring to slightly wavy, longitudinal, yellow-brown lines on upper ¾ of body (usually lost on older specimens)
Gonioplectrus Gill 1862 gonio-, angle; plectrum, spur, referring to large antrorse hook on preopercle
Gonioplectrus hispanus (Cuvier 1828) Spanish, referring to ouatalibi espagnol, Creole name for this grouper in Martinique (type locality), named for its colors, said to resemble those of the Spanish flag
Gracila Randall 1964 slender or graceful, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to “moderately slender” dorsal- and anal-fin spines (one of the common names of G. albomarginata is Slenderspine Grouper) [treated as a junior synonym of Cephalopholis by some workers]
Gracila albomarginata (Fowler & Bean 1930) albus, white; marginatus, edged or bordered, referring to “broad, contrasted whitish upper border” of soft dorsal fin (blue in some specimens)
Hyporthodus Gill 1861 hypo-, below; orthos, straight; odon, tooth, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to “vertical and quite strongly dentated” ascending (i.e., lower) margin of preoperculum of H. flavicauda (=niveatus)
Hyporthodus acanthistius (Gilbert 1892) acanthus, thorn or spine; istios, sail, referring to “very high” spinous dorsal fin, the third spine half length of head
Hyporthodus chabaudi (Castelnau 1861) in honor of M. (probably Monsieur) Chabaud, who collected several fishes from Algoa Bay, South Africa, including holotype of this one; possibly Gustavus Henry Pullen Chabaud (1826-1877) or his brother Louis Antoine Chabaud (1831-1901), both the sons of John Chabaud (1796-1837, after whom a number of plants are named), and who both lived in South Africa where Louis is described as being an Inspector of Native Territories
Hyporthodus cifuentesi Lavenberg & Grove 1993 in honor of Miguel Cifuentes, former Intendente of Galápagos National Park, for his assistance in field work at the Galápagos Islands
Hyporthodus darwinensis (Randall & Heemstra 1991) –ensis, suffix denoting place: Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia, near Bathurst Island, type locality
Hyporthodus drummondhayi (Goode & Bean 1878) in honor of Henry Maurice Drummond Hay (1814-1896), Scottish naturalist, ornithologist and artist, who discovered this species at Bermuda in 1851 and loaned a water-color drawing to the Smithsonian Institution
Hyporthodus ergastularius (Whitley 1930) convict, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to seven dark-brown bands on body of juveniles (usually faded or absent in adults), like the stripes of the stereotypical prisoner’s uniform
Hyporthodus exsul (Fowler 1944) exile, discovered in the stomach of a Black Skipjack Tuna, Euthynnus lineatus
Hyporthodus flavolimbatus (Poey 1865) flavus, yellow; limbatus, edged or bordered, referring to narrow bright-yellow margin on entire dorsal fin of juveniles (reduced or absent in adults); pectoral and sometimes anal and caudal fins may be edged in yellow
Hyporthodus griseofasciatus Moore, Wakefield, DiBattista & Newman 2022 griseus, gray; fasciata, banded, reflecting vernacular name most frequently applied to this species by anglers in Western Australia, “greyband,” referring to gray bands alternating with seven dark-brown bands
Hyporthodus haifensis (Ben-Tuvia 1953) –ensis, suffix denoting place: Sea Fisheries Research Station at Haifa, Israel, near Caesarea, Mediterranean Sea, type locality (also occurs in eastern Atlantic from Portugal south to Angola)
Hyporthodus mystacinus (Poey 1852) mustachioed, referring to diagonal dark stripe, “like a mustache, parallel to the upper jaw” (translation)
Hyporthodus nigritus (Holbrook 1855) blackened, referring to plain chocolate-brown color, varying to blackish gray, without markings
Hyporthodus niphobles (Gilbert & Starks 1897) snowed upon, referring to “clear-cut, distinct” white spots on sides of juveniles
Hyporthodus niveatus (Valenciennes 1828) snowy, referring to white spots on head, body and dorsal fin
Hyporthodus octofasciatus (Griffin 1926) octo-, eight; fasciatus, banded, referring to eight broad, dark-purple bars on body (bars may fade instantly upon death)
Hyporthodus perplexus (Randall, Hoese & Last 1991) puzzling, referring to its “many peculiarities” (per Randall et al. 1993): known from only a single specimen and “surprising” that more have not been found; lack of additional specimens and absence of any highly diagnostic characters, apart from the unusual low dorsal soft ray count of 13, is “puzzling”; replacement name for Epinephelus thompsoni Whitley 1948, secondarily preoccupied by Stereolepoides thompsoni Fowler 1923 (=Epinephelus lanceolatus) when both are in Epinephelus
Hyporthodus peruanus (Chirichigno F. 1963) Peruvian, known only from the eastern Pacific of Peru
Hyporthodus quernus (Seale 1901) oaken, presumably referring to reddish-brown color of adults
Hyporthodus septemfasciatus (Thunberg 1793) septem, seven; fasciatus, banded, referring to seven white bands on body (actually white interspaces between broad dark bars, with nine total bands including those on head and caudal peduncle)
Mycteroperca Gill 1862 mycterus, nostril, referring to large divided posterior nostril of M. olfax; perca, a perch-like fish
Mycteroperca acutirostris (Valenciennes 1828) acutus, sharp or pointed; rostris, snout, referring to long pointed snout, more pointed compared to presumed congeners in Serranus
Mycteroperca bonaci (Poey 1860) Bonací, Cuban name for this grouper
Mycteroperca cidi Cervigón 1966 in memory of Cervigón’s professor, D. Francisco García del Cid (1897-1965), University of Barcelona (Cid was run over by a car on his way home from the University)
Mycteroperca fusca (Lowe 1838) dark or dusky, referring to brownish or dark-gray body color of adults
Mycteroperca interstitialis (Poey 1860) having interstices, referring to brown-to-purple body crossed in all directions by lighter bands, creating the appearance of large squarish spots separated by short interstices
Mycteroperca jordani (Jenkins & Evermann 1889) in honor of ichthyologist David Starr Jordan (1851-1931), who allowed the authors to use his library and fish collection
Mycteroperca microlepis (Goode & Bean 1879) micro-, small; lepis, scale, referring to smaller, more numerous scales compared to M. interstitialis
Mycteroperca olfax (Jenyns 1840) olfactory (to smell), referring to its “rather peculiar” nostrils, “a little in advance of the eyes, and consist[ing] of one large, nearly circular, aperture, enclosing two smaller ones, which are also circular and placed equally in advance”
Mycteroperca phenax Jordan & Swain 1884 deceptive, equivalent of “Scamp” (i.e., prankster), local name for this species “everywhere” along the Florida coast (USA)
Mycteroperca prionura Rosenblatt & Zahuranec 1967 prion, saw; oura, tail, referring to “jagged, saw-toothed appearance” of caudal-fin margin of large specimens
Mycteroperca rosacea (Streets 1877) rosy, described as having a “uniformly rosaceous” color in life (modern accounts describe adults with a greenish to gray-brown ground color, with a portion of the population exhibiting a xanthic pattern in which the fish is a bright yellow-orange)
Mycteroperca rubra (Bloch 1793) red, referring to reddish-brown body color, often mottled with black or pale-gray spots (not the uniform bright-red color depicted in Bloch’s plate)
Mycteroperca tigris (Valenciennes 1833) tiger, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to tiger-like pattern of stripes on nape and upper body
Mycteroperca venenosa (Linnaeus 1758) poisonous; this grouper often carries ciguatoxin and is not much caught for food
Mycteroperca xenarcha Jordan 1888 xenos, strange (i.e., different); archa, anus, referring to angular anal fin, its seventh ray produced
Plectropomus Oken 1817 plectrum, spur; pomus, lid or covering, referring to ventral edge of preopercle with three large downward-projecting spines (often covered by skin)
Plectropomus areolatus (Rüppell 1830) with areolae, probably referring to numerous round to slightly oblong dark-edged blue spots on head, body and fins
Plectropomus laevis (Lacepède 1801) smooth, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to scaleless interorbital area and/or smooth interopercle and subopercle
Plectropomus leopardus (Lacepède 1802) referring to leopard-like pattern of small spots on head and most of body
Plectropomus maculatus (Bloch 1790) spotted, referring to dark-edge blue spots on head, body (except lower thorax and abdomen) and median fins
Plectropomus marisrubri Randall & Hoese 1986 maris, sea; rubrus, red, proposed as a subspecies of P. pessuliferus from the Red Sea
Plectropomus oligacanthus (Bleeker 1855) oligo-, few; acanthus, thorn or spine, referring to fewer dorsal-fin spines compared to congeners (at least among those known to Bleeker)
Plectropomus pessuliferus (Fowler 1904) pessulus, a little bar; fero, to bear, referring to short dark vertical bars (actually elongated spots) on sides of some adults
Plectropomus punctatus (Quoy & Gaimard 1824) spotted, referring to slightly reddish-brown body “agreeably sprinkled with an infinity of elongated bluish spots, placed without order in front, and forming regular lines towards the tail” (translation)
Pseudogramma Bleeker 1875 pseudo-, false, then presumed to be closely related to Gramma (Ovalentaria: Grammatidae)
Pseudogramma astigma Randall & Baldwin 1997 a-, without; stigma, spotted, i.e., unspotted, referring to absence of prominent dark-brown or black spot on opercle as seen on other congeners
Pseudogramma australis Randall & Baldwin 1997 southern, referring to occurrence at Easter Island in southern Oceania [populations from Pitcairn Islands and Tonga, originally included under this name, are now called P. xanthum]
Pseudogramma axelrodi Allen & Robertson 1995 in honor of pet-book publisher Herbert R. Axelrod (1927-2017), for his “many ichthyological contributions and generous patronage of this branch of science” (e.g., he provided airfares for the senior author)
Pseudogramma brederi (Hildebrand 1940) in honor of ichthyologist Charles M. Breder Jr. (1897-1983), American Museum of Natural History, who described the first species of the genus known from the Atlantic (P. gregoryi) and “who himself indeed collected specimens on the Bird Key rookery” in the Tortugas of Florida (USA), presumably the type locality of this species
Pseudogramma cernunnos Prokofiev 2019 named after Kernunn, a horned Celtic deity, referring to long triangular skin growth (supraorbital barbel) above eye
Pseudogramma erythrea Randall & Baldwin 1997 red, referring to predominantly red color pattern
Pseudogramma galzini Williams & Viviani 2016 in honor of René Galzin (b. 1950), École Pratique des Hautes Études at the Sorbonne, France, who has spent his career working on fish ecology in French Polynesia; he helped organize the expeditions that led to the collection of this species and P. paucilepis
Pseudogramma gregoryi (Breder 1927) in honor of zoologist William K. Gregory (1876-1970), Breder’s “chief” at the American Museum of Natural History
Pseudogramma guineensis (Norman 1935) –ensis, suffix denoting place: Gulf of Guinea, off Annobón Island, Equatorial Guinea, type locality (occurs in eastern Atlantic from Cape Verde Islands to the Gulf of Guinea)
Pseudogramma megamyctera Randall & Baldwin 1997 mega-, large; myctera, nostriled, referring to long tubular anterior nostrils
Pseudogramma paucilepis Williams & Viviani 2016 paucus, few; lepis, scale, referring to relatively reduced scalation on interorbital, suborbital and dentary compared to P. polycantha
Pseudogramma pectoralis Randall & Baldwin 1997 pectoral, having the largest pectoral fins in the genus and being one of two species with only 13 pectoral-fin rays
Pseudogramma polyacanthus (Bleeker 1856) poly, many; acanthus, thorn or spine, referring to more (7) dorsal-fin spines compared to 2-3 in Pseudochromis (Ovalenteria: Pseudochromidae), its presumed closest relative at the time
Pseudogramma thaumasia (Gilbert 1900) wonderful, allusion not explained nor evident
Pseudogramma xantha Randall, Baldwin & Williams 2002 yellow, referring to ground color
Saloptia Smith 1964 etymology not explained nor evident
Saloptia powelli Smith 1964 in honor of Ronald Powell, Fisheries Officer, Cook Island, Pacific, who provided type
Triso Randall, Johnson & Lowe 1989 abbreviation of Trisotropis Gill 1865 (=Mycteroperca), “misapplied” by previous workers to the lone species of the genus (tri-, three; iso-, equal; tropis, keel, original allusion not evident)
Triso dermopterus (Temminck & Schlegel 1843) dermo-, skin; pterus, fin, referring to dorsal, anal and caudal fins covered with small scales
Variola Swainson 1839 “spotted disease” or smallpox, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to numerous small and irregular spots and dashes on head and body of V. longipinnis (=louti)
Variola albimarginata Baissac 1953 albo-, white; marginata, edged or bordered, referring to white or yellow posterior margin on caudal fin
Variola louti (Fabricius 1775) Arabic name for this grouper along the Red Sea of Saudi Arabia
Family LIOPROPOMATIDAE
Subfamily LIOPROPOMATINAE Painted Basslets
4 genera · 38 species
Bathyanthias Günther 1880 bathy, deep, presumably referring to B. roseus being captured at 55-640 m; Anthias, body form similar to that genus
Bathyanthias atlanticus (Schultz 1958) Atlantic, described from the western Atlantic off French Guiana
Bathyanthias cubensis (Schultz 1958) –ensis, suffix denoting place: Cuba, type locality (occurs in Gulf of Mexico to the southern Caribbean)
Bathyanthias mexicanus (Schultz 1958) Mexican, referring to Gulf of Mexico, type locality (also occurs in western Atlantic from Florida south to French Guiana)
Bathyanthias roseus Günther 1880 rosy, referring to uniform rose-colored body (with two faint longitudinal bands)
Jeboehlkia Robins 1967 –ia, belonging to: James E. Böhlke (1930-1982), Curator of Fishes at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, for his “extensive” contribution to the knowledge of tropical Atlantic fishes
Jeboehlkia gladifer Robins 1967 gladius, sword; fero, to bear, referring to blade-like first dorsal-fin spine
Liopropoma Gill 1861 leios, smooth; propoma, preopercle, referring to smooth-edged (lacking serrations or spines) preopercle of L. aberrans
Liopropoma aberrans (Poey 1860) aberrant (i.e., straying or different), wandering away from the type of Perca (original genus), but Poey provisionally placed it in Perca until he had more specimens to study “so as not to encumber the generic nomenclature” (translation)
Liopropoma africanum (Smith 1954) African, representing the “noteworthy” discovery of a “far Eastern” genus (Chorististium, =Liopropoma) in the western Indian Ocean off East Africa and Madagascar
Liopropoma aragai Randall & Taylor 1988 in honor of ichthyologist Chuichi Araga, Seto Marine Biological Laboratory, Kyoto University (Japan), who provided holotype and photograph of it to the authors
Liopropoma aurora (Jordan & Evermann 1903) Aurora, Roman goddess of dawn, presumably referring to pale rosy body color with sulphur-yellow spots and streaks on back, fin margins and head, giving it a sunrise-like quality
Liopropoma carmabi (Randall 1963) named for the Caribbean Marine Biological Institute (Caraïbisch Marien-Biologisch Instituut, or Carmabi) of Curaçao and its “most cooperative staff”
Liopropoma collettei Randall & Taylor 1988 in honor of Bruce B. Collette (b. 1935), Senior Systematic Zoologist, National Marine Fisheries Service, who helped collect paratypes from Papua New Guinea in 1970
Liopropoma danae (Kotthaus 1978) in honor of the Danish fishery research vessel Dana, from which type was collected [probably a juvenile of a described species of Liopropoma]
Liopropoma dorsoluteum Kon, Yoshino & Sakurai 1999 dorsum, back; luteus, yellow, referring to yellow color of back (“abruptly” red below)
Liopropoma emanueli Wirtz & Schliewen 2012 in honor of Emanuel d’Oliveira (b. 1958), professional diver and diving instructor, “whose knowledge of the marine fauna of Santiago Island [one of the Cape Verde Islands, type locality] has been a great help to the first author during many dives”
Liopropoma erythraeum Randall & Taylor 1988 red, referring to light-red color in life [replacement name for Pikea rubre Yoshino & Araga 1975, preoccupied in Liopropoma by L. rubre Poey 1861]
Liopropoma eukrines (Starck & Courtenay 1962) Greek for distinct or well separated, a “distinctive” species “distinctly” marked with a dark brown-to-black lateral stripe
Liopropoma fasciatum Bussing 1980 banded, referring to single dark band running tip of snout to margin of caudal fin
Liopropoma flavidum Randall & Taylor 1988 yellow, referring to overall bright-yellow color in life (pale tan in alcohol)
Liopropoma incandescens Pinheiro, Shepherd, Greene & Rocha 2019 glowing, referring to its “vivid yellow to orange incandescent coloration”
Liopropoma incomptum Randall & Taylor 1988 unadorned, referring to absence of color markings in preservative
Liopropoma japonicum (Döderlein 1883) Japanese, described from Tokyo, Japan (occurs in northwestern Pacific from Taiwan to Japan)
Liopropoma latifasciatum (Tanaka 1922) latus, wide; fasciatus, banded, referring to broad, dark-brown band (wider than diameter of eye pupil) extending from tip of snout to base of caudal fin
Liopropoma lemniscatum Randall & Taylor 1988 Greek for “bearing a ribbon,” referring to blackish lateral stripe on pale-red body
Liopropoma longilepis Garman 1899 longus, long; lepis, scale, referring to scales on sides “nearly twice as long as wide”
Liopropoma lunulatum (Guichenot 1863) somewhat moon shaped, referring to small crescent-shaped black spots on body
Liopropoma maculatum (Döderlein 1883) spotted, referring to brown spots on head, upper sides, and dorsal and caudal fins
Liopropoma mitratum Lubbock & Randall 1978 headband, referring to two distinct mustard-yellow stripes on head
Liopropoma mowbrayi Woods & Kanazawa 1951 in honor of naturalist and aquarium director Louis L. Mowbray (1877-1952), who collected type (on a beach after a storm in Bermuda)
Liopropoma multilineatum Randall & Taylor 1988 multi-, many; lineatus, lined, referring to numerous dark-red lines on body
Liopropoma olneyi Baldwin & Johnson 2014 in memory of John E. Olney (1947-2010), ichthyologist and fisheries biologist, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, “beloved friend, colleague, and teacher”
Liopropoma pallidum (Fowler 1938) pale, presumably referring to pale-red body and/or snout and head “pale or lighter” than body
Liopropoma randalli Akhilesh, Bineesh & White 2012 in honor of John E. Randall (1924-2020), Bishop Museum (Honolulu), for his contributions to the taxonomy of tropical marine fishes and, more specifically, to the taxonomy of Liopropoma
Liopropoma rubre Poey 1861 red, referring to crimson (actually yellow-brown) body crossed by five stripes of reddish brown
Liopropoma santi Baldwin & Robertson 2014 in honor of business executive and philanthropist Roger Sant (b. 1931), who participated in the Curasub submersible dive at Playa Forti (Curaçao) during which a paratype was collected; he and his wife Victoria (d. 2018) provided “generous” funding to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History for ocean-related activities
Liopropoma susumi (Jordan & Seale 1906) from Susu umi, its local name in Samoa, type locality (occurs in Red Sea and Indo-West Pacific from East Africa, Madagascar and Mascarenes east to Samoa and Tonga, north to southern Japan, south to Queensland, Australia, and New Caledonia)
Liopropoma swalesi (Fowler & Bean 1930) in honor of the late Bradshaw Swales (1875-1928), American ornithologist and lawyer, “in slight appreciation of his general interest in natural history”
Liopropoma tonstrinum Randall & Taylor 1988 from tonstrina, Latin for barbershop, referring to red-and-white striped pattern, reminiscent of a barber’s pole
Rainfordia McCulloch 1923 –ia, belonging to: Edward Henry Rainford (1853-1938), amateur naturalist and viticulturist, Queensland Agricultural Department, who collected type; his “untiring activities as a collector have greatly enriched the Australian Museum with many rare finds from the coast of Queensland”
Rainfordia opercularis McCulloch 1923 opercular, presumably referring to “attachment of the upper part of the operculum to the shoulder girdle by [a] membrane” and/or operculum (and suboperculum) with nine “strong projecting spines”
Subfamily DIPLOPRIONINAE Barred Soapfishes
3 genera · 5 species
Aulacocephalus Temminck & Schlegel 1843 aulax, furrow; cephalus, head, referring to snout and top of head with “numerous flexuous grooves” (translation)
Aulacocephalus temminckii Bleeker 1855 in honor of Coenraad Jacob Temminck (1778-1858), director of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie (Leiden, Netherlands), who, with Hermann Schlegel (1804-1884), named this genus in 1843 but did not include a species
Belonoperca Fowler & Bean 1930 belone, arrow, referring to its “contour suggestive of an arrowhead”; perca, a perch-like fish
Belonoperca chabanaudi Fowler & Bean 1930 in honor of ichthyologist Paul Chabanaud (1876-1959), Muséum national d’histoire naturelle (Paris)
Belonoperca pylei Baldwin & Smith 1998 in honor of Richard L. Pyle (b. 1967), Bishop Museum (Honolulu), “whose diving explorations of deep-reef areas have led to the discovery of many new species of marine life,” including this species
Diploprion Cuvier 1828 diplo-, double or two-fold; prion, saw, referring to double-edged preopercle, the outer edge of which is serrate or denticulate
Diploprion bifasciatus Cuvier 1828 bi-, two; fasciatus, banded, referring to dark bar through eye and a broad dark band on rear half of body [originally and often incorrectly spelled bifasciatum]
Diploprion drachi Roux-Estève 1955 patronym not identified, probably in honor of marine biologist Pierre Drach (1906-1998), on board Jacques Cousteau’s Calypso, from which type was collected
Family GRAMMISTIDAE Soapfishes
6 genera · 18 species
Aporops Schultz 1943 a-, not; poros, pore; ops, eye, referring to absence of large pore in interorbital next to eye, unlike Rhegma (=Pseudogramma, Epinephelinae)
Aporops bilinearis Schultz 1943 bi-, two; linearis, lined, referring to lateral line interrupted under soft dorsal, recommencing a little anteriorly on middorsal line of caudal peduncle, creating the appearance of two lateral lines
Grammistes Bloch & Schneider 1801 lined, referring to six (maximum) white-to-yellow horizontal lines on body of G. orientalis (=sexlineatus)
Grammistes sexlineatus (Thunberg 1792) sex, six; lineatus, lined, referring to six (maximum) white-to-yellow horizontal lines on body
Grammistops Schultz 1953 ops, appearance, referring to its “relationships” with Grammistes
Grammistops ocellatus Schultz 1953 having little eyes, referring to large ocellate black spot on opercle
Pogonoperca Günther 1859 pogon, beard, referring to barbel on lower jaw of P. ocellata; perca, a perch-like fish
Pogonoperca ocellata Günther 1859 having little eyes, presumably referring to body and fins (except upper portion of spinous dorsal) covered with small, round, yellowish-white spots
Pogonoperca punctata (Valenciennes 1830) spotted, referring to small white spots on body and fins of adults (larger spots on juveniles)
Rypticus Cuvier 1829 washing, referring to soft skin of R. saponaceus, “smeared with a frothy [soapy] viscosity” (translation, hence the name soapfish; the “soap” is a toxic mucus called grammastin that repels predators)
Rypticus bicolor Valenciennes 1846 bi-, two, i.e., two-colored, referring to “beautiful vermilion red” (translation) body with light marblings and black fins (per Valenciennes 1855)
Rypticus bistrispinus (Mitchill 1818) bis, twice; tri-, three; spinus, spined, referring to three (sometimes two) spines each on opercle and preopercle
Rypticus bornoi Beebe & Tee-Van 1928 in honor of Louis Borno (1865-1942), President of Haiti (where this species is endemic) during the period of the American occupation (1922-1930), who “did everything to further” the authors’ work
Rypticus carpenteri Baldwin & Weigt 2012 in honor of Michael Carpenter, station manager for the Smithsonian’s research station at Carrie Bow Cay, Belize, for more than 30 years; his “dedication to maintaining this remote station benefited a multitude of marine scientists (and marine science). We thank him for his good-natured support in the field, and the first author is grateful for his enduring friendship.”
Rypticus courtenayi McCarthy 1979 in honor of Walter L. Courtenay, Jr. (1933-2014), ichthyologist and oceanographer, Florida Atlantic University, whose 1967 revision of Atlantic Rypticus “laid the foundation” for McCarthy’s study
Rypticus maculatus Holbrook 1855 spotted, referring to scattered irregular whitish spots on back and sides
Rypticus nigripinnis Gill 1861 nigri-, black; pinnis, fin, referring to black or dusky margin on vertical and pectoral fins
Rypticus randalli Courtenay 1967 in honor of John E. Randall (1924-2020), Bishop Museum (Honolulu), formerly of the Institute of Marine Biology, University of Puerto Rico, who collected type; Randall “has and is contributing much to the knowledge of Pacific and West Indian fishes. His interest, efforts, and considerable sacrifice in collecting specimens for this study are gratefully acknowledged.”
Rypticus saponaceus (Bloch & Schneider 1801) soapy, description based on the “Jabonsillo” of Parra (1787), who said its body is “covered with a soapy humor that makes it very slippery” (translation, hence the name soapfish; the “soap” is a toxic mucus called grammastin that repels predators)
Rypticus subbifrenatus Gill 1861 sub, somewhat; bi-, two; frenatus, bridled, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to two rows of coalesced spots on head of juveniles
Suttonia Smith 1953 –ia, belonging to: the late R. N. Drummond “Barty” Sutton, who “guided [Smith’s] early steps in science” (he was Smith’s chemistry teacher at Bishops Diocesan College, a boys’ school in Cape Town, South Africa; Smith was chemist before moving on to ichthyology) [presumably a relative of the Sutton of S. suttoni; see below]
Suttonia coccinea Endo & Kenmotsu 2013 scarlet, referring to bright-red coloration in life
Suttonia lineata Gosline 1960 lined, referring to prominent mid-dorsal stripe on head
Suttonia suttoni Smith 1953 in honor of Guy E. Drummond Sutton, who “greatly assisted [Smith’s] scientific work” [presumably a relative of the Sutton of Suttonia; see above]