Revised 27 Feb. 2023 PDF version (with illustrations and additional information) Coloconger Alcock 1889 colo-, from kólos (Gr. κόλος), shortened or curtailed, referring to stubby body and short tail of C. raniceps; conger, Latin for a marine eel but in this case referring to its presumed close affinity with Conger (Congridae) Coloconger cadenati Kanazawa 1961 […]

Updated 24 July 2024 PDF version (with illustrations and additional information) Subfamily CONGRINAE Kaup 1856 Acromycter Smith & Kanazawa 1977 ákron (Gr. ἅκρον), summit, top or peak; myktḗr (Gr. μυκτήρ), nostril, referring to position of posterior nostril on top of head Acromycter alcocki (Gilbert & Cramer 1897) patronym not identified but almost certainly in honor […]

Revised 20 Sept. 2023 PDF version (illustrated) Boehlkenchelys Tighe 1992 in honor of Eugenia B. Böhlke (1929–2001) and her husband, the late James E. Böhlke (1930–1982), both of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, for their many contributions to the study of eels; enchelys (Gr.), eel Boehlkenchelys longidentata Tighe 1992 longus (L.), long; dentata […]

Revised 4 March 2023 PDF version (with illustrations and additional information) Aldrovandia Goode & Bean 1896 –ia (L. suffix), belonging to: Italian naturalist Ulysses Aldrovandus (1522–1605), “founder of the first natural history museum, whose name, strangely enough, has never been honored by association with a genus of animals or plants” Aldrovandia affinis (Günther 1877) Latin […]

Revised 31 Jan. 2023 PDF version (with illustrations and additional information) Latimeria Smith 1939 –ia (L. suffix), belonging to: Marjorie Courtenay-Latimer (1907–2004), Curator, East London Museum, who discovered this species in a fisherman’s catch and mailed a sketch to Smith, who identified it as a living coelacanth, formerly known only from Mesozoic fossils Latimeria chalumnae […]

Revised 11 June 2023 PDF version (with illustrations and additional information) Acipenser Linnaeus 1758 Latin for sturgeon, with at least three published explanations of its derivation: (1) derived from the Greek akkipesios (ἀκκιπήσιος) and perhaps equivalent to the Egyptian xipen-pennu; (2) combination of the Greek akis, point, and pente, five, presumably referring to five rows […]

Revised 22 Feb. 2023 PDF version (illustrated and with additional information) Mobula Rafinesque 1810 probably based on Raia mobular, which Rafinesque unnecessarily replaced with Mobula auriculata [for etymology, see Mobula mobular] Mobula alfredi (Krefft 1868) in honor of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh (1844–1900), who was visiting Sydney at the time this “royal fish” was […]

Updated 4 Aug. 2024 PDF version (with illustrations and additional information) Urobatis Garman 1913 uro, from ourá (Gr. οὐρά), tail, allusion not explained, possibly referring to blunt tail, “about as long as the body”; batís (Gr. βατίς), a flat fish, usually applied to a skate or ray Urobatis concentricus Osburn & Nichols 1916 Latin for […]

Revised 31 Jan. 2024 PDF version (with illustrations and additional information) Whiptail Stingrays Subfamily STYRACURINAE Carvalho, Loboda & da Silva 2016 Styracura Carvalho, Loboda & Silva 2016 stýrax (Gr. στύραξ), spike at the lower end of a spear-shaft; ourá (Gr. οὐρά), tail, referring to its greatly elongated caudal stingers Styracura pacifica (Beebe & Tee-Van 1941) […]

Updated 3 April 2024 PDF version (with illustrations and additional information) Stingrays Subfamily DASYATINAE Jordan & Gilbert 1879 Bathytoshia Whitley 1933 bathýs (Gr. βαθύς), deep, presumably referring to ocean habitat of Dasyatis thetidis (=B. lata) compared with riverine habitat of Hemitrygon fluviorum, which Whitley placed in a genus he called Toshia, described in the same […]