Protanguilla

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Protanguilla
Protanguilla palau.jpg
(a) Holotype, female.
(b–g) Paratype, juvenile, 65 mm (2.6 in) SL;
(c,d) head in lateral and ventral view;
(e) gill opening;
(f,g) stained body scales. [1]
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Anguilliformes
Suborder: Synaphobranchoidei
Family: Protanguillidae
G.D. Johnson, H. Ida & Miya, 2012
Genus: Protanguilla
G.D. Johnson, H. Ida & Miya, 2012
Species:
P. palau
Binomial name
Protanguilla palau
G. D. Johnson, H. Ida & Sakaue, 2012

Protanguilla palau is a species of eel, the only species in the genus Protanguilla (first eel), which is in turn the only genus in its family, Protanguillidae. Its common name is Palauan primitive cave eel. Individuals were found swimming in March 2010 in a deep underwater cave in a fringing reef off the coast of Palau. [1]

Contents

Protanguillidae is considered a "living fossil", [3] being the sister group to all other eels. [4] They are synapomorphic with all other eel species, which were confirmed to be monophyletic through molecular analysis. [5]

Characteristics

The eel's body is very small and slender, being 176 mm (6.9 in) SL for the holotype female. [6] [3] The eel has a second premaxilla and under 90 vertebrae, features previously found only in fossilised eels. Its full set of gill rakers in its branchial arches has never been found in true eels, but is a common trait of other bony fish families. [7]

It is very different from all other living eels, and scientists estimate it must have diverged from the others around 200 million years ago, during the Mesozoic era. It thus has not only its own species, but also its own genus and family as well, and has been referred to by scientists as a "living fossil". [3]

References

  1. 1 2 Johnson, G. D.; Ida H.; Sakaue J.; Sado T.; Asahida T.; Miya M. (2012). "A 'living fossil' eel (Anguilliformes: Protanguillidae, fam nov) from an undersea cave in Palau". Proceedings of the Royal Society . (in press) (1730): 934–943. doi:10.1098/rspb.2011.1289. PMC   3259923 . PMID   21849321. Open Access logo PLoS transparent.svg
  2. ↑ McCosker, J.; Tighe, K.; Smith, D. G. (2022). "Protanguilla palau". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species . 2022 e.T103707334A103708468. doi: 10.2305/IUCN.UK.2022-2.RLTS.T103707334A103708468.en . Retrieved 20 February 2024.
  3. 1 2 3 Rincon, Paul (17 August 2011). "New Pacific eel is a 'living fossil', scientists say". BBC News . Retrieved 17 August 2011.
  4. ↑ Springer, V. G. (2015). The Gill-Arch Musculature of Protanguilla, the Morphologically Most Primitive Eel (Teleostei: Anguilliformes), Compared with That of Other Putatively Primitive Extant Eels and Other Elopomorphs, 103(2), 595–620. doi: 10.1643/CI-14-152
  5. ↑ "Palauan primitive cave eel (Protanguilla palau), a 'living fossil'". ocean.si.edu. Retrieved 2024-11-06.
  6. ↑ 'Fossil eel' squirms into the record books, Agence France-Presse, 16 August 2011.
  7. ↑ "Scientists discover the most primitive living eel". eurekalert.org. 2011. Retrieved 17 August 2011.
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