Order ZEIFORMES (Dories)

COMMENTS
v. 7.0 – 9 March 2023  view/download PDF

6 families • 16 genera • 34 species    

Family CYTTIDAE Lookdown Dories

Cyttus Günther 1860    from kittos, Greek name for the ivy plant, inexplicably inserted into a list of fishes by Greco-Egyptian author Athenaeus (late 2nd to early 3rd centuries AD), which Günther, believing it to be the name of an unknown fish, applied to this genus

Cyttus australis (Richardson 1843)    southern, referring to distribution in the southern hemisphere around Australia

Cyttus novaezealandiae (Arthur 1885)    of New Zealand, referring to type locality off Otago Heads, New Zealand (also occurs in the southwest Pacific off Australia)

Cyttus traversi Hutton 1872    in honor of New Zealand politician, lawyer, explorer and naturalist William Thomas Locke Travers (1819-1903), who “presented” type


Family OREOSOMATIDAE Oreos

Subfamily PSEUDOCYTTINAE            

Pseudocyttus Gilchrist 1906    pseudo-, false, presumed to be “closely related” to Cyttosoma (=Oreosoma)

Pseudocyttus maculatus Gilchrist 1906    spotted, referring to large dark spots on gray body

Subfamily OREOSOMATINAE

Allocyttus McCulloch 1914    allo-, other, i.e., presumed to be another genus closely related to Cyttosoma (=Oreosoma)

Allocyttus folletti Myers 1960    in honor of Wilbur (“Bill”) I. Follett (1901-1992), Curator of Fishes, California Academy of Sciences, “as a token of personal esteem” and for his “deep interest and broad knowledge” of California fishes

Allocyttus guineensis Trunov & Kukuev 1982    ensis, suffix denoting place: Gulf of Guinea, Southeastern Atlantic, type locality

Allocyttus niger James, Inada & Nakamura 1988    black, referring to blackish color of freshly caught specimens; also reflects common name “black oreo” widely used in the deepwater fishery of New Zealand

Allocyttus verrucosus (Gilchrist 1906)    covered with verrucae (warts), presumably referring to “blunt conical elevation” in the middle of the scales, making its body “rough to the touch”

Neocyttus Gilchrist 1906    neo-, new, then believed to be a new genus of the family Cyttidae

Neocyttus acanthorhynchus Regan 1908    acanthus, spine; rhynchus, snout, referring to strong spines on snout

Neocyttus helgae (Holt & Byrne 1908)    of His Majesty’s Yacht Helga (British Royal Navy), from which type was collected

Neocyttus psilorhynchus Yearsley & Last 1998    psilos, bare; rhynchus, snout, referring to scaleless snout between lachrymal and supraorbital crest

Neocyttus rhomboidalis Gilchrist 1906    alis, adjectival suffix: presumably referring to rhomboid-like shape of body

Oreosoma Cuvier 1829    oreo-, mountain; soma, body, referring to cone-shaped bony structures on underside of juveniles, which resemble mountain peaks

Oreosoma atlanticum Cuvier 1829    icum, belonging to: described from a specimen captured in the Atlantic (species as a whole occurs circumglobally in southern oceans except near South America)


Family PARAZENIDAE Smooth Dories

Subfamily PARAZENINAE Slender Dory

Parazen Kamohara 1935    para-, near, referring to its presumed close relationship to Zen (=Cyttopsis)

Parazen pacificus Kamohara 1935    icus, belonging to: the Pacific Ocean, referring to its occurrence in the Indo-West Pacific (also known from the Western Atlantic off Cuba)

Subfamily CYTTOPSINAE Smooth Dories

Cyttopsis Gill 1862    opsis, presumably referring to its similarity to Cyttus (Cyttidae)

Cyttopsis cypho (Fowler 1934)    hunchback, referring to convex dorsal profile of adults

Cyttopsis rosea (Lowe 1843)    pink or rosy, referring to its color

Stethopristes Gilbert 1905    stethos, breast or chest; pristes, saw, referring to a “continuous series of carinated spinous bucklers from throat to anus”

Stethopristes eos Gilbert 1905    after Eos, goddess of morning-glow, referring to its light rose color


Family ZENIONTIDAE Armoreye Dories

Capromimus Gill 1893   mimus, imitator, referring to how C. abbreviatus “has the aspect of” the genus Capros (Caproidae, Perciformes, its family at time of description); Gill correctly anticipated that it “may prove not to be a caproid when anatomically examined”

Capromimus abbreviatus (Hector 1875)    shortened, presumably referring to its “shorter form” compared to Bathystethus cultratus (Perciformes: Kyphosidae), its presumed congener at the time

Cyttomimus Gilbert 1905    mimus, imitator, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to its similarity to Cyttus (Cyttidae)

Cyttomimus affinis Weber 1913    related, referring to similarity to C. stelgis

Cyttomimus stelgis Gilbert 1905    scraper, presumably referring to exposed surface of scales “rendered very rough by numberless minute prickles”

Zenion Jordan & Evermann 1896    diminutive of Zeus (the John Dory), referring to its similarity to that genus

Zenion hololepis (Goode & Bean 1896)    holo-, entire; lepis, scale, referring to scales covering entire body compared to presumed congeners in the genus Cyttus

Zenion japonicum Kamohara 1934    Japanese, described from a specimen collected at Mimase Market, Kochi, Tosa Province (now Kochi Prefecture), Japan

Zenion leptolepis (Gilchrist & von Bonde 1924)    leptos, thin; lepis, scale, allusion not explained, perhaps referring to smaller scales (90 along lateral line) compared to Z. hololepis (~67 along lateral line)

Zenion longipinnis Kotthaus 1970    longus, long; pinnis, fin, referring to the “unusual length” (translation) of the ventral fin (spine is >¼ SL)


Family GRAMMICOLEPIDIDAE Tinselfishes          

Subfamily MACRUROCYTTINAE

Macrurocyttus Fowler 1934    a combination of Macrurus and Cyttus, combining the dark head and abdomen coloration of macrurids (Gadiformes) with the long ventral spine and lack of vomerine teeth of Cyttosoma (=Oreosoma)

Macrurocyttus acanthopodus Fowler 1934    acanthus, spine; podus, foot, referring to “very large and conspicuous” ventral-fin spine

Subfamily GRAMMICOLEPIDINAE

Grammicolepis Poey 1873    grammikos, linear; lepis, scale, referring to vertical, linear scales (longer than they are wide) covering body

Grammicolepis brachiusculus Poey 1873    diminutive of brachium, arm, referring to its very short, rounded pectoral fins

Xenolepidichthys Gilchrist 1922    xeno-, different and lepid, scale, “characterized by the great vertical elongation” of its scales; ichthys, fish

Xenolepidichthys dalgleishi Gilchrist 1922    in honor of Lieut. James Dalgleish (1891-1964), commander of the survey ship Pickle, from which type was collected, and to whom the success of the South African Marine Survey was “largely due”


Family ZEIDAE Dories

Zenopsis Gill 1862    zen, a form of Zeus; opsis, appearance, presumably referring to its similarity to Zeus but with osseous plates at base of dorsal- and three anal-fin spines

Zenopsis conchifer (Lowe 1852)    concha, shell; fero, to bear, referring to how osseous plates at base of dorsal and anal fins “resemble the depressed shells of a Fissurella [a limpet] seen in profile”

Zenopsis filamentosa Kai & Tashiro 2019    referring to filamentous membranes extending from spinous portion of dorsal fin, their length more than twice SL

Zenopsis nebulosa (Temminck & Schlegel 1845)    dark, dusky or cloudy, presumably referring to numerous, irregularly placed, dark or dusky blotches on sides of juveniles (one grayish blotch on adults)

Zenopsis oblonga Parin 1989    oblong, i.e., elongate, described as the most “low-bodied” species in the genus

Zenopsis stabilispinosa Nakabo, Bray & Yamada 2006    stabilis, firm; spinosa, spine, referring to third anal-fin spine fused to its pterygiophore

Zeus Linnaeus 1758    derived from zaeus, ancient Greek name for this fish dating to at least Pliny’s Natural History; more recent scholars have confused zaeus with the Greek god Zeus, culminating in Jordan’s unfounded and oft-repeated 1902 claim that the fish had also been called “Piscis Jovii” in classical texts, with Zeus being the equivalent to the Roman god Jove or Jupiter (our search for “Piscis Jovii” in the classical lexicon revealed nothing)

Zeus capensis Valenciennes 1835    ensis, suffix denoting place: the cape, referring to type locality, Cape of Good Hope

Zeus faber Linnaeus 1758    Latin for craftsman, allusion unclear; according to Renaissance scholars Gyllius (1553) and Salviani (1558), faber was its local name in Dalmatia (now part of present-day Croatia), referring to how its dorsal-, ventral- and anal-fin spines, and possibly also its head bones, said to resemble the tools of a craftsman