COMMENTS
v. 4.0 – 17 Sept. 2022  view/download PDF

Family MUGILIDAE Mullets
25 genera · 79 species 

Agonostomus Bennett 1832    a-, without; gonos, angle; stomus, mouth, referring to more rounded (less angular) lower jaw compared to Mugil

Agonostomus catalai Pellegrin 1932    in honor of René Catala (1901-1988), coffee planter and amateur (at the time) biologist in Madagascar, who collected type (also occurs off Comoros)

Agonostomus telfairii Bennett 1832    in honor of Irish botanist and ship surgeon Charles Telfair (1778-1833), who collected and/or acquired plants and animals in Mauritius in 1810, including type of this mullet

Aldrichetta Whitley 1945    –etta, diminutive connoting endearment: in honor of Fred C. Aldrich, Chief Inspector of Fisheries and Game (Perth, Western Australia) from 1911-1937, an “able and enthusiastic fisheries investigator”

Aldrichetta forsteri (Valenciennes 1836)    in honor of Johann Reinhold Forster (1729-1798), naturalist aboard James Cook’s second voyage on HMS Resolution, who observed this mullet in New Zealand in 1769; while he identified it as Mugil albula (=cephalus), his notes provided sufficient descriptive data for Valenciennes to determine it was a separate and new species

Cestraeus Valenciennes 1836    latinization of kestreus, a name used by Aristotle for mullets

Cestraeus goldiei (Macleay 1883)    in honor of “Alex” Goldie, probably Andrew Goldie (1840-1891), Scottish-born merchant, explorer and natural history collector, who collected type from the Goldie River (which he named after himself) in Papua New Guinea

Cestraeus oxyrhyncus Valenciennes 1836    oxy, sharp; rhynchus, snout, referring to sharp angle of lower lip, which makes the snout more pointed

Cestraeus plicatilis Valenciennes 1836    pleated, referring to its “very thick” upper lip, with a “fleshy mass” at the end of the snout, “covered with excessively fine and numerous papillae, which give this organ a velvety appearance” (translations)

Chaenomugil Gill 1863    chaeno-, gape, “distinguished by the longitudinal cleft of the mouth”; mugil, mullet

Chaenomugil proboscideus (Günther 1861)    having a proboscis, referring to “extremely thick, conically produced” thick part of upper lip

Chelon Artedi 1793    ancient Greek name mentioned by Aristotle as a synonym for kephalos (see Mugil cephalus, below) [authorship sometimes attributed to Röse, who reprinted Artedi’s 1738 publication]

Chelon auratus (Risso 1810)    gilded, referring to the “beautiful golden spots that adorn its operculum” (translation)

Chelon bandialensis (Diouf 1991)    –ensis, suffix denoting place: Bandiala, one of three coastal rivers that constitute the Sine Saloum estuary in Senegal, type locality

Chelon bispinosus (Bowdich 1825)    bi-, two; spinosus, thorny, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to two spines (plus seven rays) in second dorsal fin (first dorsal fin consists of four “strong” spines with no rays)

Chelon caeruleus Deef 2018    blue, referring to dark-blue color of sides [originally spelled caeruleum but emended to caeruleus since Chelon is masculine; of uncertain taxonomic status, provisionally included here]

Chelon dumerili (Steindachner 1870)    in honor of August Duméril (1812-1870), herpetologist and ichthyologist, Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (Paris), who loaned Steindachner specimens of other Sengalese fishes for study

Chelon labrosus (Risso 1827)    thick-lipped, allusion not explained but probably referring to its thicker lips compared to C. ramada

Chelon luciae (Penrith & Penrith 1967)    of St. Lucia estuary, Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa, type locality

Chelon natalensis (Castelnau 1861)    –ensis, suffix denoting place: KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, locality (also occurs in Swaziland and Mozambique)

Chelon parsia (Hamilton 1822)    local name for this mullet in West Bengal, India

Chelon persicus Senou, Randall & Okiyama 1995    Persian, referring to Persian Gulf, where it appears to be endemic

Chelon ramada (Risso 1827)    from ramado, local name for this mullet along the northwestern Mediterranean Sea

Chelon richardsonii (Smith 1846)    patronym not identified, probably in honor of surgeon-naturalist John Richardson (1787-1865)

Chelon saliens (Risso 1810)    leaping or jumping, referring to how this mullet “jumps with extraordinary velocity when it finds himself trapped in a net” (translation)

Chelon tricuspidens (Smith 1935)    referring to its relatively large tricuspid teeth

Crenimugil Schultz 1946    creni-, referring to crenulate lips of C. crenilabis; mugil, mullet

Crenimugil buchanani (Bleeker 1853)    in honor of Francis Hamilton-Buchanan (1762-1829), Scottish physician and naturalist, whose 1822 account of Indo-Gangetic fishes (including descriptions of three mullets) is cited several times by Bleeker

Crenimugil crenilabis (Forsskål 1775)    creni-, crenulate; labis, lip, referring to row of crenulate papillae along external edge of its thick lips

Crenimugil heterocheilos (Bleeker 1855)    heteros, different; cheilos, lip, allusion not explained, presumably referring to lip papillae, different from most other mullet genera

Crenimugil seheli (Forsskål 1775)    Sehêli, Arabic name for this mullet

Crenimugil pedaraki (Valenciennes 1836)    from Peddaraki Sovere, its local name at Vizagapatam on the Coromandel Coast of India, as reported by Russell (1803)

Dajaus Valenciennes 1836    latinization of dajao, local name for this mullet in Puerto Rico

Dajaus monticola (Bancroft 1834)    of the mountains, referring to its occurrence in steep forested streams as high as 1500 m

Ellochelon Whitley 1930    Ellon Gistel 1848, an unneeded and presumably forgotten replacement name for Mugil, which for some reason Whitley wished to commemorate; chelon, ancient Greek name mentioned by Aristotle as a synonym for kephalus (see Mugil cephalus)

Ellochelon vaigiensis (Quoy & Gaimard 1825)    –ensis, suffix denoting place: Pulau Waigeo (or Vaigiou), Papua Barat, Indonesia, type locality (but widely occurs in Red-Sea and Indo-West Pacific)

Gracilimugil Whitley 1941    gracilis, slender or thin, referring to its compressed body and “graceful” form; mugil, mullet

Gracilimugil argenteus (Quoy & Gaimard 1825)    silvery, referring to the silvery coloration of its “fine and pearly” scales (translation)

Joturus Poey 1860    latinization of Joturo, Cuban name for J. pichardi in Havana (also known as Foturo)

Joturus pichardi Poey 1860    in honor of Cuban lexicographer-geographer Esteban Pichardo (1799-1879), “estimable auteur” of Diccionario Provincial de voces Cubanos and Geografia de la isla de Cuba (he also recommended the vernacular name Joturo)

Mugil Linnaeus 1758    Latin for mullet, possibly derived from mulgeo, to suck, referring to how M. cephalus feeds by sucking up sediment

Mugil bananensis (Pellegrin 1927)    –ensis, suffix denoting place: Banana, Democratic Republic of the Congo, type locality (occurs along eastern Atlantic coast from Senegal to Angola, and Cape Verde Island)

Mugil brevirostris Miranda Ribeiro 1915    brevis, short; rostris, snout, referring to its “de focinho curto”

Mugil broussonnetii Valenciennes 1836    in honor of physician-naturalist Pierre Marie Auguste Broussonet (1761-1807), who acquired type from Joseph Banks, collected during James Cook’s first great voyage (1768-1771)

Mugil capurrii (Perugia 1892)    in honor of Capt. Guiseppe Capurro, who collected type in Senegal, and to whom the Museo Civico di Genova “owes many interesting animals collected by him during his travels” (translation)

Mugil cephalus Linnaeus 1758    kephalos, a name dating to Aristotle (it is not clear if the name relates to cephalus, meaning head)

Mugil curema Valenciennes 1836    Curema, Portuguese vernacular used by Dutch naturalist Jorge Marcgrave in his 1648 Historia Naturalis Brasiliae, doubtless corresponding to the Spanish vernacular querimana (or queriman)

Mugil curvidens Valenciennes 1836    curvus, bent; dens, teeth, referring to teeth in the lower jaw, which are directed downwards and forwards

Mugil hospes Jordan & Culver 1895    a landlord, referring to the near constant presence in its mouth or branchial cavity of a small oniscid crustacean similar to that found in the Menhaden, Brevoortia tyrannus (Clupeidae)

Mugil hubensis Rizvi & Iqbal 1986    –ensis, suffix denoting place: Hub River, Baluchistan, Pakistan, type locality

Mugil incilis Hancock 1830    pertaining to a ditch or trench, “being chiefly found in the trenches or ditches dug for draining the flat lands of the coast of Guiana”

Mugil liza Valenciennes 1836    vernacular name for “mullet with big lips” in Spain, apparently applied to this western Atlantic and Caribbean species by the Spanish and/or Valenciennes

Mugil longicauda Guitart Manday & Alvarez-Lajonchere 1976    longus, long; cauda, tail, referring to its “notably elongated caudal peduncle”

Mugil margaritae Menezes, Nirchio, Oliveira & Siccharamirez 2015    of Isla Margarita, Venezuela, type locality

Mugil rubrioculus Harrison, Nirchio, Oliveira, Ron & Gaviria 2007    rubri-, red; oculus, eye, referring to its distinctly reddish-orange iris

Mugil setosus Gilbert 1892    bristly, referring to “much larger multiserial setæ” (hair-like structures) on premaxilla compared to the similar M. curema (perhaps referring to a sympatric population later described as M. hospes)

Mugil thoburni (Jordan & Starks 1896)    in honor of Wilbur Wilson Thoburn (1859-1899), who taught bionomics (ecology) at Stanford University (where Jordan was president), for his work on sculpins (Cottidae)

Mugil trichodon Poey 1875    trichos, hair; odon, tooth, presumably referring to the filiform appearance of its teeth

Myxus Günther 1861    mucous or slime, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to how mullets often feed on “soft organic substances”

Myxus elongatus Günther 1861    elongate, referring to how its “body appears to be more elongate” than other mullet species

Neochelon Durand, Chen, Shen, Fu & Borsa 2012    neo-, new, i.e., a new genus of Chelon

Neochelon falcipinnis (Valenciennes 1836)    falcatus, sickle-shaped; pinnis, fin, referring to falcate anal fin

Neomyxus Steindachner 1878    neo-, new, proposed as a subgenus of Myxus, i.e., a new Myxus

Neomyxus leuciscus (Günther 1871)    leukiskos, Greek word for chub (probably derived from leukos, white), allusion not explained, perhaps referring to its silvery sides and white belly and/or its resemblance to the European cyprinid Leuciscus leuciscus

Oedalechilus Fowler 1903    oedaleus, swollen; cheilus, lip, referring to fleshy upper lip

Oedalechilus labeo (Cuvier 1829)    labeo, one with large lips, referring to its fleshy upper lip, thicker than Mugil chelo (=Chelon labrosus), its presumed congener at the time

Osteomugil Luther 1982    osteo-, bone, referring to how genus is differentiated by an osteological character (absent vs. present posterior zygapophysial hooks on any trunk vertebra); mugil, mullet

Osteomugil cunnesius (Valenciennes 1836)    latinization of Kunnesee, its local name at Vizagapatam on the Coromandel Coast of India, as reported by Russell (1803)

Osteomugil engeli (Bleeker 1858)    per Bleeker (1860), in honor of Chris Engel, who provided many of the illustrations in Bleeker’s Atlas Ichthyologique des Orientales Neerlandaises

Osteomugil perusii (Valenciennes 1836)    in honor of French naval officer and explorer Jean-François de Galaup La Pérouse (1741-1788), “a name that will remind all scientists of the coasts where this species can be found” (translation), referring to Vanikoro Island in the South Pacific (type locality), where Pérouse was stranded after both his ships struck reefs; he and his crew were never seen again

Osteomugil robustus (Günther 1861)    stout, presumably referring to its “very thick” body

Osteomugil speigleri (Bleeker 1858)    patronym not identified but almost certainly in honor of Ludwig Speigler (1824-1893), who provided many of the illustrations in Bleeker’s Atlas Ichthyologique des Orientales Neerlandaises

Parachelon Durand, Chen, Shen, Fu & Borsa 2012    para-, near, allusion not explained, presumably referring to its placement next to Chelon on the authors’ phylogenetic tree

Parachelon grandisquamis (Valenciennes 1836)    grandis, large; squamus, scale, referring to larger scales, 26 or 28 along lateral line, compared to 45 on Mugil cryptocheilos (=Chelon auratus) and Mugil plumieri (=cephalus), its presumed congeners at the time

Paramugil Ghasemzadeh, Ivantsoff & Aarn 2004    para-, near; Mugil, genus in which both included species had previously been placed

Paramugil georgii (Ogilby 1897)    etymology not explained, perhaps referring to the Georges River, New South Wales, Australia, type locality

Paramugil parmatus (Cantor 1849)    shielded, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to large silvery-white scales covering (i.e., shielding) body

Planiliza Whitley 1945    planus, flat, presumably referring to “broad, flat and depressed” interorbital of P. ordensis; Liza (=Chelon), its presumed closest relative (see Mugil liza for etymology)

Planiliza abu (Heckel 1843)    from Abu Sukkanejn, Arabic name for this mullet in Mosul, Iraq, from Abu, father (i.e., possessor, or one with), and sukkanejn, anchor, probably referring to its toothed suborbital bone (per Heckel), or abū, a prefix particle denoting “an animal having or being like” and sukkānayn, dual steering wheel or handle bars, referring to two dorsal (i.e., steering) fins (per Mikaili & Shayegh 2011, “An etymological review on fish common and scientific names in the Euphrates and Tigris”)

Planiliza alata (Steindachner 1892)    winged, presumably referring to prolonged and sickle-shaped ventral, anal, caudal and second dorsal fins

Planiliza carinata (Valenciennes 1836)    keeled, referring to predorsal scales in midline thickened and ridged to form a keel

Planiliza haematocheila (Temminck & Schlegel 1845)    blood-lipped, from hematos, bloody, and cheilus, lip, referring to “dirty purple” (translation) of lips of living specimens [often spelled as a nondeclinable noun, hematocheilus]

Planiliza klunzingeri (Day 1888)    in honor of German physician and zoologist Carl Benjamin Klunzinger (1834-1914), who pointed out that Day had incorrectly identified this mullet as Mugil carinatus (=P. carinata) in 1876

Planiliza lauvergnii    (Eydoux & Souleyet 1850)    patronym not identified, probably in honor of Barthélemy Lauvergne (1805-1871), painter and draughtsman on voyage that collected type

Planiliza macrolepis (Smith 1846)    macro-, large; lepis, scale, referring to “very large and hard” scales of back and sides

Planiliza mandapamensis (Thomson 1997)    –ensis, suffix denoting place: Kilakarei, south of Mandapam, southern India, type locality

Planiliza melinoptera (Valenciennes 1836)    melinus, quince-yellow; pterus, fin, referring to lemon-yellow fins of living specimens, especially the caudal fin (based on manuscript description and illustration by Quoy & Gaimard)

Planiliza ordensis (Whitley 1945)    –ensis, suffix denoting place: Ord River, Western Australia, type locality (also occurs in New Guinea and Tonga)

Planiliza planiceps (Valenciennes 1836)    planus, flat; ceps, head, referring to its “extremely flattened” (translation) head

Planiliza subviridis (Valenciennes 1836)    sub-, less than or somewhat; viridis, green, referring to its greenish-gray back

Planiliza tade (Forsskål 1775)    Tâde, Arabic name for this mullet

Plicomugil Schultz 1953    plicatus, folded, referring to its folded and lobed lips; mugil, mullet

Plicomugil labiosus (Valenciennes 1836)    large-lipped, referring to its fleshy lips

Pseudomyxus Durand, Chen, Shen, Fu & Borsa 2012    pseudo-, false, i.e., although this genus may resemble Myxus, such an appearance is false

Pseudomyxus capensis (Valenciennes 1836)    –ensis, suffix denoting place: Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, type locality

Rhinomugil Gill 1863    rhino-, snout, “distinguished by [its] projecting rounded snout”; mugil, mullet

Rhinomugil corsula (Hamilton 1822)    latinization of Khorsula, local name for this mullet in West Bengal, India

Sicamugil Fowler 1939    sica, dagger, referring to strongly spinate preorbital spine; mugil, mullet

Sicamugil cascasia (Hamilton 1822)    presumably a local Gangetic name for this mullet [sometimes placed in Minimugil Senou 1988, proposed in an unpublished Ph.D. dissertation and therefore not available; authorship sometimes dated to Durand 2016, who cited Senou and provided some diagnostic traits of the genus, but name is not “explicitly indicated as intentionally new” (ICZN 16.1) and therefore remains unavailable]

Sicamugil hamiltonii (Day 1870)    in honor of Francis Hamilton-Buchanan (1762-1829), Scottish physician and naturalist, who described the similar S. cascasia in 1822

Squalomugil Ogilby 1908    squalus, shark, referring to flattened head and inferior mouth; mugil, mullet

Squalomugil nasutus (De Vis 1883)    large-nosed, referring to its “rounded, sharp, [and] much produced” snout [sometimes placed in Rhinomugil]

Trachystoma Ogilby 1888    trachys, rough; stoma, mouth, referring to vomer and palate furnished with distinct bands of villiform teeth (but jaws are toothless)

Trachystoma petardi (Castelnau 1875)    in honor of Mr. Petard (forename not available), who sent fishes to Castelnau collected from the Richmond River, New South Wales, including type of this one