Original description as Ophisternon aenigmaticum:
- Rosen, Donn E & P.H. Greenwood. 1976. "A fourth neotropical species of synbranchid eel and the phylogeny and systematics of synbranchiform fishes". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History. (157):1-69 (ffm00346) (abstract)
Conservation: Ophisternon aenigmaticum is not evaluated by the international union for the conservation of nature in the iucn red list of threatened species.