[4] The mackerel icefish was first formally described in 1905 by the Swedish zoologist Einar Lönnberg with the type locality given as South Georgia.

[5] The specific name honours the archaeologist, geologist, paleontologist Johan Gunnar Andersson who was leader of the Swedish Antarctic Expedition, on which the type was collected.

[7] This species, which becomes reproductively mature at 3–4 years old,[7] is a synchronous spawner and spawns in the Southern Hemisphere autumn and winter.

[4] This species has slightly oily, yet mild-tasting flesh of excellent quality,[10] and is of importance to commercial fisheries,[11] with catches in 2007 amounting to a total of 4364 tonnes (4810 tons).

Due to historic overfishing (more than 168 thousand tonnes of this fish were landed in the year 1978 alone), [11]the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) considers the species "depleted", however, the Marine Stewardship Council has certified the Heard Island Mackerel Icefish fishery as sustainable and well managed.