Although traditionally recognized as one of only two species of opah, the other being the southern opah (L. immaculatus), a review in 2018 found that the widely distributed "L. guttatus" consists of five distinct groups that differ in geographic range, genetics, morphology and meristics: North Atlantic opah (L. guttatus) of the northeast Atlantic including the North Sea and Mediterranean, East Atlantic opah (L. lauta) of the subtropical and warm temperate northeast Atlantic including the Mediterranean, southern spotted opah (L. australensis) of the subtropical and warm temperate Southern Hemisphere, smalleye Pacific opah (L. incognitus) of the central and northeast Pacific, and bigeye Pacific opah (L. megalopsis) found in tropical and subtropical parts of the West Atlantic, Pacific, Indian oceans.[9][10]