 The species was first discovered in 1879 , when a cod trawler caught some by chance while working off of the coast of Massachusetts . The species was named Lopholatilus chamaeleonticeps by George Brown Goode and Tarleton Hoffman Bean in 1896 in their seminal work Oceanic Ichthyology , A Treatise on the Deep @-@ Sea and Pelagic Fishes of the World , from a sample collected 80 miles ( 130 km ) south east of <unk> Land , Massachusetts . Its genus is Lopholatilus , which itself is in the family Malacanthidae , commonly known as tilefish . The Malacanthidae are part of the <unk> , a suborder of the order Perciformes . L. chamaeleonticeps gained its moniker " great northern tilefish " from its prodigious size and its discovery at relatively high latitudes for a member of Malacanthidae . When used in cooking , the species is generally referred to as the " golden tile " , for the large yellow spots across its blue @-@ green back and lighter @-@ yellow or pink sides . The species is distinguished from other members of their large family by a prominent crest on their head . 
