Agrostichthys parkeri belongs to the Regalecidae (oarfish) family in the Lampriformes order and is the only known member of its genus.

The fish is named in memory of Benham’s predecessor, zoologist Thomas Jeffery Parker (1850-1897), of the University of Otago in New Zealand, who made a “careful study” of the anatomy of Regalecus glesne in the year 1886.

[6] Agrostichthys parkeri has a defined, protruding mouth with outer enlarged maxillae on a small, slender head that continues seamlessly right into the elongated body.

[4] The color of Agrostichthys parkeri is mainly shiny, bright, bluish silver with vertical dusky bands on the back and underside.

One specimen was also found washed up on a beach in Playa Union on the southern tip of South America in Chubut, Argentina.