[2] The 5th edition of Fishes of the World classifies this genus in the family Oneirodidae in the suborder Ceratioidei of the anglerfish order Lophiiformes.

David Starr Jordan and Barton Warren Evermann suggested in 1898 that the name referred to the small, skin-covered eyes.

Alternatively, in 2009, Theodore Wells Pietsch III proposed that the name was given because the fish is "so strange and marvelous that it could only be imagined in the dark of the night during a state of unconsciousness”.

[6] Oneirodes is the most speciose genus in the family Oneirodidae and has the following species classified within it:[7] Oneiriodes dreamers are characterised by having spines on the sphenotic bone, a deep incision on the rear edge of the operculum, and rod-shaped pelvic bones that are not expanded or expanded only slightly at the tips.

[11] A unique character of the metamorphosed females of Oneirodes is that the posterior end of the pterygiophore of the illicium emerges from the skin on the back, behind the head.