Currently, 17 species in this genus are recognized: •
Bregmaceros anchovia Ho, Endo & Lee, 2020 (false anchovy codlet) •
Bregmaceros arabicus D'Ancona &
Cavinato, 1965 •
Bregmaceros atlanticus Goode &
Bean, 1886 (antenna codlet) •
Bregmaceros bathymaster D. S. Jordan &
Bollman, 1890 (codlet) •
Bregmaceros cantori Milliken &
Houde, 1984 (striped codlet) •
Bregmaceros cayorum Nichols, 1952 •
Bregmaceros houdei Saksena &
Richards, 1986 (stellate codlet) •
Bregmaceros japonicus S. Tanaka (I), 1908 (Japanese codlet) •
Bregmaceros lanceolatus S. C. Shen, 1960 •
Bregmaceros mcclellandi W. Thompson, 1840 (spotted codlet, Macclelland's unicorn-cod, unicorn cod) •
Bregmaceros moseri Harold & Baltzegar, 2023 (gyre codlet) •
Bregmaceros nectabanus Whitley, 1941 (smallscale codlet) •
Bregmaceros neonectabanus S. Masuda,
Ozawa &
Tabeta, 1986 •
Bregmaceros pescadorus S. C. Shen, 1960 •
Bregmaceros pseudolanceolatus Torii,
Javonillo &
Ozawa, 2004 (false lance codlet) •
Bregmaceros rarisquamosus Munro, 1950 (big-eye unicorn-cod) •
Bregmaceros retrodorsalis Ho & Endo, 2020 (back-fin codlet)
Fossil species '' from Italy Fossils of
Bregmaceros are found from the
Eocene to the
Quaternary (age range: from 37.2 to 0.0 million years ago). They are known from various localities in Europe, North America, Africa, and Australasia. A few are known from articulated fossils' skeletons, but a vast majority of fossil bregmacerotid remains are only from isolated, diagnostic otoliths. About 14 fossil
Bregmaceros species are known, with two from articulated skeletons and 12 known from
otoliths: • †
Bregmaceros albyi (
Sauvage, 1880) (
B. bosniaski (Sauvage, 1880)) -
Miocene of Spain, Portugal, Italy,
Algeria,
Gabon, Greece,
Malta,
Austria, Poland, the
Czech Republic & the eastern United States, and Pliocene of Spain, Italy & Greece. Known from both fossil skeletons and isolated otoliths. • †
Bregmaceros antiquus Schwarzhans, 1980 - late Eocene of
New Zealand [otolith] • †
Bregmaceros brihandensis Nolf, 1988 - late Eocene of France & Italy [otolith] • †
Bregmaceros catulus (Schubert, 1908) - early Oligocene of the Czech Republic [otolith] • †
Bregmaceros deklaszi Schwarzhans, 2013 - Oligocene of France, early Miocene of Italy, mid-late Miocene of Gabon [otolith] • †
Bregmaceros felkeri Schwarzhans, 2007 - middle Eocene of Germany [otolith] • †
Bregmaceros filamentosus (Priem, 1908) - mid-late
Eocene of
Georgia & Iran,
Oligocene of Poland,
Romania &
North Caucasus (Russia), potentially Miocene of Egypt & the Czech Republic. Known from fossil skeletons and isolated otoliths. • †
Bregmaceros hybridus Schwarzhans, 2013 - early Miocene of Italy, early-mid Miocene of Spain, mid-late Miocene of Gabon [otolith] • †
Bregmaceros luellingensis Schwarzhans & Wienrich, 2009 - early Miocene of Mexico, middle Miocene of Germany [otolith] • †
Bregmaceros minimus (Frost, 1934) - middle Eocene of England, late Eocene of Ukraine [otolith] • †
Bregmaceros minutus Stinton, 1958 - middle Miocene of
South Australia [otolith] • †
Bregmaceros oblongus Schwarzhans, 1977 - early Oligocene of Germany [otolith] • †
Bregmaceros prosoponos Grenfell, 1984 - early Miocene of New Zealand [otolith] • †
Bregmaceros troelli Dante & Frizzell, 1965 - middle Eocene of Texas, US [otolith] A potential extinct relative,
Bregmacerina, is known from the Early Miocene of Russia, where it inhabited the
Paratethys. It shares close similarities to
Bregmaceros in the reduction of the first dorsal fin, but differs in other aspects. It remains uncertain whether it is an actual member of the Bregmacerotidae. == References ==