Cutthroat eel

Cutthroat eels
Muddy arrowtooth eel, Ilyophis brunneus.
From plate 43 of Oceanic Ichthyology by George Brown Goode and Tarleton Hoffman Bean, published 1896.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Superorder: Elopomorpha
Order: Anguilliformes
Family: Synaphobranchidae
Genera

See text.

Cutthroat eels are a family, Synaphobranchidae, of eels, the only member of the suborder Synaphobranchoidei. They are found worldwide in temperate and tropical seas.

Cutthroat eels range from 23 centimetres (9.1 in) to 160 centimetres (63 in) in length. They are bottom-dwelling fish, found in deep waters down to about 3,700 metres (12,100 ft).[1] They are distinguished by the presence of telescopic eyes in the larvae.

Genera and species

There are 38 species in 12 genera:[2]

Family Synaphobranchidae

In some classifications (for example, ITIS), this family is split, with Simenchelys in its own family, Simenchelyidae.

References

  1. ^ McCosker, John F. (1998). Paxton, J.R. & Eschmeyer, W.N.. ed. Encyclopedia of Fishes. San Diego: Academic Press. p. 90. ISBN 0-12-547665-5. 
  2. ^ Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2011). "Synaphobranchidae" in FishBase. June 2011 version.