The beardfishes consist of a single extant genus, Polymixia, of deep-sea marine ray-finned fish named for their pair of long hyoid barbels. They are classified in their own order Polymixiiformes. But as Nelson says, "few groups have been shifted back and forth as frequently as this one, and they were recently added to Paracanthoptergii". For instance, they have previously been classified as belonging to the Beryciformes, and are presently considered either paracanthopterygians or the sister group to acanthopterygians. They are of little economic importance.
Conger is a genus of marine congrid eels. It includes some of the largest types of eels, ranging up to 2 m (6 ft) or more in length, in the case of the European conger. Large congers have often been observed by divers during the day in parts of the Mediterranean Sea, and both European and American congers are sometimes caught by fishermen along the European and North American Atlantic coasts.
The superorder Elopomorpha contains a variety of types of fishes that range from typical silvery-colored species, such as the tarpons and ladyfishes of the Elopiformes and the bonefishes of the Albuliformes, to the long and slender, smooth-bodied eels of the Anguilliformes. The one characteristic uniting this group of fishes is they all have leptocephalus larvae, which are unique to the Elopomorpha. No other fishes have this type of larvae.
The cusk-eel family, Ophidiidae, is a group of marine bony fishes in the Ophidiiformes order. The scientific name is from the Greek ophis meaning "snake", and refers to their eel-like appearance. True eels diverged from other ray-finned fish during the Jurassic, while cusk-eels are part of the Percomorpha clade, along with tuna, perch, seahorses and others.
Gnathophis is a genus of marine congrid eels.
Albulidae is a family of fish, commonly known as the bonefishes, that are popular as game fish in Florida, select locations in the South Pacific and the Bahamas and elsewhere. The family is small, with 11 species in 3 genera. Presently, the bonefishes are in their own order: Albuliformes. The families Halosauridae and Notacanthidae were previously classified in this order, but are now, according to FishBase, given their own order Notacanthiformes. The largest bonefish caught in the Western Hemisphere is a 16-pound, 3 ounce example caught off Islamorada, Florida, on March 19, 2007.
The Heterenchelyidae or mud eels are a small family of eels native to the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and eastern Pacific.
Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes, which consists of eight suborders, 20 families, 164 genera, and about 1000 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage and are usually predators.
Ampheristus is an extinct genus of prehistoric marine ray-finned fish. It was a basal or stem member of the family Ophidiidae, which contains modern cusk-eels. Fossils are known from worldwide from the Late Cretaceous to the late Paleogene, making it a rather successful survivor of the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event.
Pythonichthys is a genus of eels of the family Heterenchelyidae that occur in tropical waters of the eastern Pacific Ocean off of Panama and in the Atlantic Ocean near the Caribbean Sea and the west coast of Africa. It contains the following described species:
Bathycongrus is a genus of eels in the family Congridae.
Parabathymyrus is a genus of eels in the family Congridae.
The Congrinae are a subfamily of eels in the family Congridae.
The Bullish conger is an eel in the family Congridae. It was described by David G. Smith and Robert H. Kanazawa in 1977, originally under the genus Rhechias. It is a marine, deep water-dwelling eel which is known from the Gulf of Mexico to the Amazon, in the western Atlantic Ocean. It dwells at a depth range of 366–475 meters. Males can reach a maximum total length of 39.5 centimeters.
Bathycongrus trimaculatus is an eel in the family Congridae. It was described by Emma Stanislavovna Karmovskaya and David G. Smith in 2008. It is a tropical, marine eel which is known from the southwestern Pacific Ocean, including Fiji, New Caledonia, and the Solomon Islands. It dwells at a depth range of 357–550 metres. Males can reach a maximum total length of 16.1 centimetres.
Bathymyrinae is a subfamily of marine ray-finned fishes belonging to the family Congridae, which includes the conger and garden eels. The eels of this subfamily are most diverse in the Indo-Pacific region but are also found in both the Eastern and Western Atlantic Oceans.
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.
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.
Rhynchoconger smithi is an eel in the family Congridae.
Rostroconger is a monospecific genus of marine ray-finned fish belonging to the subfamily Bathymyrinae, which is in the family Congridae, which also includes the conger and garden eels. The only species in the genus is Rostroconger macrouriceps. This species is known only from the holotype collected off Aurora Luzon in the Philippines.
