Coloconger

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Coloconger
Coloconger raniceps.jpg
Coloconger raniceps
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Anguilliformes
Suborder: Congroidei
Family: Colocongridae
D. G. Smith, 1976 [1]
Genus: Coloconger
Alcock, 1889
Species

See text

The Colocongridae, the worm eels or short-tail eels, are a family of eels, containing a single genus, Coloconger.

Contents

Colongrids are found in tropical waters of the Atlantic, Indian, and West Pacific oceans. They are bottom-dwelling fish, living in waters from 300 to 900 m (980 to 2,950 ft) in depth. [2] Compared with other eels, they have relatively short and stubby bodies, with blunt snouts.

Species

The ten known species are: [3]

See also

Related Research Articles

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Myroconger is the only genus of eels, the thin eels, in the family Myrocongridae. Very little is known about the group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eel</span> Order of fishes

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<i>Cryptacanthodes</i> Genus of fishes

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<i>Indostomus</i> Genus of fishes

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<i>Dysomma</i> Genus of fishes

Dysomma is a genus of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Synaphobranchidae, the cutthroat eels. These eels are found in the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans.

Barathronus is a genus of deep-sea fish that are placed in the family Aphyonidae or family Bythitidae (brotulas), depending on the source.

Coloconger cadenati is an eel in the family Colocongridae. It was described by Robert H. Kanazawa in 1961. It is a marine, deep-water dwelling eel which is known from Senegal to the Gulf of Guinea in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. It is known from a depth range of 270–600 m. Males can reach a maximum total length of 90 cm. The diet of C. cadenati consists primarily of benthic crustaceans.

Coloconger canina is an eel in the family Colocongridae. It was described by Peter Henry John Castle and Solomon N. Raju in 1975. It is a marine, deep-water dwelling eel which is known from leptocephali collected from the Indian Ocean. It is known to dwell at a minimum depth of 300 m.

Coloconger eximia is an eel in the family Colocongridae. It was described by Peter Henry John Castle in 1967, originally under the genus Ascomana. It is a marine, deep-water dwelling eel which is known from Cape Peninsula, South Africa, in the southeastern Atlantic Ocean.

Coloconger japonicus is a species of eels in the family Colocongridae. It was described by Yoshihiko Machida in 1984. It is a marine, deep-water dwelling eel which is known from the East China Sea. It dwells at a depth range of 750–760 metres. Males can reach a maximum total length of 56 centimetres.

Coloconger meadi is an eel in the family Colocongridae. It was described by Robert H. Kanazawa in 1957. It is a marine, deep-water dwelling eel from the Gulf of Mexico and Suriname in the western central Atlantic Ocean. It dwells at a depth range of 650–925 m. Males can reach a maximum total length of 37.7 cm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Froghead eel</span> Species of fish

The froghead eel is an eel in the family Colocongridae. It was described by Alfred William Alcock in 1889. It is a marine, deep-water dwelling eel which is known from the Indo-west Pacific, including East Africa, Madagascar, and southern Japan. It dwells at a depth range of 300–1134 metres. Males can reach a maximum total length of 50 centimetres.

The Indo-Pacific shorttail conger, also known as the short-tail conger, is an eel in the family Colocongridae. It was described by Chan William Lai-Yee in 1967. It is a marine, deep-water dwelling eel which is known from the Indo-Pacific, including southern Mozambique, Natal, South Africa, the South China Sea, and eastern Australia. It dwells at a maximum depth of 810 metres (2,660 ft). Males are known to reach a maximum total length of 51 centimetres (20 in).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Myrophinae</span>

Myrophinae, the worm eels, is a subfamily of ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Ophichthidae, which also includes the snake eels in the subfamily Ophichthinae.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Congroidei</span> Suborder of fishes

Congroidei is a suborder of ray-finned fishes belonging to the order Anguilliformes, the eels. These eels are mostly marine, although a few species of snake eel will enter freshwater, and they are found in tropical and tempareate waters throughout the world.

Coloconger saldanhai is an eel in the family Colocongridae. It was described by J.C. Quéro in 2001. It is a marine eel which is known from New Caledonia.

Gymnelinae is a subfamily of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the family Zoarcidae, the eelpouts. Most species are found in the North Pacific Ocean but one genus is cosmopolitan, and another is endemic to the Southern Ocean.

References

  1. López, J.; Westneat, Mark; Hanel, Reinhold (2007). "The Phylogenetic Affinities of the Mysterious Anguilliform Genera Coloconger and Thalassenchelys as Supported by mTDNA Sequences". Copeia. 2007: 959–966. doi:10.1643/0045-8511(2007)7[959:TPAOTM]2.0.CO;2.
  2. McClosker, John F. (1998). Paxton, J.R.; Eschmeyer, W.N. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Fishes. San Diego: Academic Press. p. 89. ISBN   0-12-547665-5.
  3. Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Coloconger". Catalog of Fishes . California Academy of Sciences . Retrieved 11 November 2024.
  4. "Coloconger maculatus sp. nov., a species of short-tail eel from eastern Taiwan (Anguilliformes: Colocongridae)". Zootaxa. 5016 (2): 271–282. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5016.2.7.
  5. "Coloconger saldanhai Quéro 2001". UNIVERSAL FISH CATALOGUE. Archived from the original on 2013-12-15.