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Narrownecked oceanic eel

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Narrownecked oceanic eel
From plate 49 of Oceanic Ichthyology by G. Brown Goode and Tarleton H. Bean, published 1896.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Anguilliformes
Family: Derichthyidae
Genus: Derichthys
T. N. Gill, 1884
Species:
D. serpentinus
Binomial name
Derichthys serpentinus
Synonyms
  • Leptocephalus anguilloides

The narrownecked oceanic eel, Derichthys serpentinus, is a longneck eel, the only species in the genus Derichthys, found in all oceans in depths between 500 and 2,000 m. Their length is up to 40 centimetres (1 ft 4 in).

The skin is scaleless and red-brown. It lives on the bottom at great depths.

Freshly caught specimen of D. serpentinus before and after a large decapod prey item was removed from the stomach.

References

[edit]
  • "Derichthys serpentinus". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 19 March 2006.
  • Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Derichthys serpentinus". FishBase. January 2006 version.
  • Tony Ayling & Geoffrey Cox, Collins Guide to the Sea Fishes of New Zealand, (William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1982) ISBN 0-00-216987-8