Ophichthidae is a family of fish in the order Anguilliformes, commonly known as the snake eels. The term "Ophichthidae" comes from Greek ophis ("serpent") and ichthys ("fish"). Snake eels are also burrowing eels, they are named for their physical appearance, they have long, cylindrical snakelike bodies. This family is found worldwide in tropical to warm temperate waters. They inhabit a wide range of habitats, from coastal shallows and even rivers, to depths of above 800 m (2,600 ft). Most species are bottom dwellers, hiding in mud or sand to capture their prey of crustaceans and small fish, but some are pelagic.
Pseudomyrophis is a genus of eels in the snake eel family Ophichthidae. It currently contains the following species:
The slope conger, also known as the black-fin conger, is an eel in the family Congridae. It was described by Charles Henry Gilbert in 1891, originally under the genus Ophisoma. It is a marine, deep water-dwelling eel which is known from the southeastern and eastern central Pacific Ocean, including Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador, Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, and Peru. It is known to dwell at a depth range of 380–740 metres, and inhabits substrates. Males can reach a maximum total length of 35 centimetres.
The Blackedge conger is an eel in the family Congridae. It was described by David Starr Jordan and John Otterbein Snyder in 1901, originally under the genus Leptocephalus. It is a marine, deep water-dwelling eel which is known from Japan to the Philippines, in the western Pacific Ocean. It dwells at a depth range of 150–450 metres. Males can reach a maximum total length of 54 centimetres.
Gnathophis nystromi is an eel in the family Congridae. It was described by David Starr Jordan and John Otterbein Snyder in 1901, originally under the genus Leptocephalus. It contains two subspecies, Gnathophis nystromi nystromi, and Gnathophis nystromi ginanago, which was described by Hirotoshi Asano in 1958, originally under the genus Rhynchocymba.
The dogface witch eel is an eel in the family Nettastomatidae. It was described by Charles Henry Gilbert in 1891. It is a marine, deep water-dwelling eel which is known from the eastern central Pacific Ocean, including Point Conception, California, USA; Panama, Guadalupe, and the Galapagos Islands. It is known to dwell at an approximate depth of 734 meters. Males can reach a maximum total length of 90 centimetres.
The blacktail buckbill eel, also known commonly as the blacktail duckbill, or the duckbill eel in Malaysia, is an eel in the family Nettastomatidae. It was described by David Starr Jordan and John Otterbein Snyder in 1901, originally under the genus Chlopsis. It is a marine, tropical eel which is known from the western Pacific Ocean, including Japan, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Taiwan. It is known to dwell at a depth range of 100 to 500 meters. Males can reach a maximum total length of 50 centimeters (20 in).
The Diminutive worm eel is an eel in the family Ophichthidae. It was described by John E. McCosker, Eugenia Brandt Böhlke and James Erwin Böhlke in 1989. It is a marine, temperate water-dwelling eel which is known from the western Atlantic Ocean.
The Smallfin worm-eel is an eel in the family Ophichthidae. It was described by Charles Barkley Wade in 1946. It is a marine, tropical eel which is known from the eastern central and southeastern Pacific Ocean, including Nicaragua, Colombia, Panama and Costa Rica. It dwells at a depth range of 100 to 200 metres, and inhabits sediments of mud. Males can reach a maximum total length of 16 centimetres (6.3 in).
Pseudomyrophis nimius is an eel in the family Ophichthidae. It was described by James Erwin Böhlke in 1960. It is a marine, subtropical eel which is known from the Atlantic Ocean, including Angola, the Gulf of Mexico, and Florida Atlantic. It is known to dwell at a depth range of 320 to 755 metres. Males can reach a maximum total length of 36.7 centimetres (14.4 in).
The Misaki worm eel is an eel in the family Ophichthidae. It was described by David Starr Jordan and John Otterbein Snyder in 1901, originally under the genus Muraenichthys. It is a marine, temperate water-dwelling eel which is known from reefs in Japan, in the northwestern Pacific Ocean. Males can reach a maximum total length of 44.8 centimetres (17.6 in).
The Western Atlantic finless eel is an eel in the family Ophichthidae. It was described by Charles Henry Gilbert in 1891. It is a marine, subtropical eel which is known from the western and eastern Atlantic Ocean, including North Carolina, USA; the western Bahamas, Venezuela, and St. Helena Island. It dwells at a depth range of 3 to 400 metres, and forms burrows in sandy sediments on the continental shelf. Males can reach a maximum total length of 60 centimetres (24 in).
The sooty eel is an eel in the family Ophichthidae. It was described by David Starr Jordan in 1884, originally under the genus Caecula. It is a marine, subtropical eel which is known from the western Atlantic Ocean, including North Carolina and Florida, USA, and the Gulf of Mexico. It dwells at a depth range of 0 to 27 metres. Males can reach a maximum total length of 70 centimetres (2.3 ft).
The Horsehair eel is an eel in the family Ophichthidae. It was described by David Starr Jordan and Bradley Moore Davis in 1891. It is a marine, tropical eel which is known from the western central Atlantic Ocean, including Florida, USA, the Gulf of Mexico and Puerto Rico. It dwells at a depth range of 90 to 200 meters, and inhabits sand and mud substrates. Males can reach a maximum total length of 76 centimeters (30 in).
The smiling snake-eel is an eel in the family Ophichthidae. It was described by David Starr Jordan and Charles Henry Gilbert in 1882, originally under the genus Apterichthys. It is a marine, tropical eel which is known from the eastern central and southeastern Pacific Ocean, including Colombia, Costa Rica, Panama, Ecuador, and Mexico. It dwells at a maximum depth of 30 metres (98 ft), and inhabits sediments of sand. Males can reach a maximum total length of 41 centimetres (16 in).
The death-banded snake-eel is an eel in the family Ophichthidae. It was described by Samuel Garman in 1899. It is a tropical, marine eel which is known from the eastern central and southeastern Pacific Ocean, including the central Gulf of California, Colombia, Costa Rica, Mexico and Panama. It dwells at a depth range of 35–760 metres, and forms burrows in sandy and muddy bottoms. Males can reach a maximum total length of 86 centimetres.
The Evermann's snake eel is an eel in the family Ophichthidae. It was described by David Starr Jordan and Robert Earl Richardson in 1908. It is a marine, tropical eel which is known from the western Pacific Ocean. It inhabits inshore soft bottoms.
The yellow snake-eel is an eel in the family Ophichthidae. It was described by David Starr Jordan and Charles Henry Gilbert in 1882. It is a marine, subtropical eel known from the eastern central and southeastern Pacific Ocean, including Chile, Costa Rica, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico, Panama, Peru, and the United States. It dwells at a depth range of 1 to 110 m, and forms burrows in rocky and sandy regions. Males can reach a maximum total length of 818 cm (322 in), but more commonly reach a length of 540 cm (210 in).
The Marble-toothed snake-eel is an eel in the family Ophichthidae. It was described by Charles Henry Gilbert in 1898. It is a marine, tropical eel which is known from the eastern central and southeastern Pacific Ocean, including Costa Rica, Colombia, Panama and Ecuador. It dwells in shallow waters at a maximum depth of 10 metres (33 ft), and inhabits sand and mud sediments and mangroves. Males can reach a maximum total length of 68 centimetres (27 in).
The Galapagos snake eel is an eel in the family Ophichthidae. It was described by David Starr Jordan and Charles Harvey Bollman in 1890. It is a marine, tropical eel which is known from the eastern central and southeastern Pacific Ocean, including Colombia, the Gulf of California, Costa Rica, and the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador. It dwells at a depth range of 3 to 30 metres, and inhabits reefs, preferring to live in areas bearing a mixture of boulders, gravel and sand. Males can reach a maximum total length of 71 centimetres (28 in).
