The fish was first described in 1850 by Coenraad Jacob Temminck and Hermann Schlegel , when it was observed along with other fauna off the coasts of Japan . They initially placed it in the genus Monacanthus , as Monacanthus cirrhifer ; however , it was transferred to the genus Stephanolepis by David Starr Jordan and Henry Weed Fowler in 1903 . The species name derives from the Latin word cirrhifer , which means " bearing fringes of hair " .