Cutthroat eels are a family, Synaphobranchidae, of eels, the only members of the suborder Synaphobranchoidei. They are found worldwide in temperate and tropical seas.[3][4]
| Cutthroat eels | |
|---|---|
| |
| Muddy arrowtooth eel, Ilyophis brunneus. From plate 43 of Oceanic Ichthyology by George Brown Goode and Tarleton Hoffman Bean, published 1896. | |
Scientific classification 
| |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Anguilliformes |
| Suborder: | Synaphobranchoidei Bleeker, 1864[1] |
| Family: | Synaphobranchidae J. Y. Johnson, 1862 |
| Genera[2] | |
|
see text | |
Cutthroat eels range from 23 to 160 cm (9.1 to 63.0 in) in length. They are bottom-dwelling fish, found in deep waters down to about 3,700 m (12,100 ft).[5] They are distinguished by the presence of telescopic eyes in the larvae. In some classifications (for example, ITIS), this family is split, with Simenchelys in its own family, the Simenchelyidae.
Subfamilies and genera
editCutthroat eels are classified into the following subfamilies and genera:[6]
- Subfamily Simenchelyinae Gill, 1879 (pugnose parasitic eels)
- Simenchelys Gill, 1879
- Subfamily Ilyophinae D. S. Jordan & Davis, 1891 (arrowtooth eels or mustard eels)
- Atractodenchelys C.H. Robins & C. R. Robins, 1970
- Dysomma Alcock, 1889
- Dysommina Ginsburg, 1951
- Ilyophis Gilbert, 1891
- Linkenchelys D. G. Smith, 1989
- Meadia Böhlke, 1951
- Thermobiotes Geistdoerfer, 1991
- Subfamily Synaphobranchinae J. Y. Johnson, 1862 (cutthroat eels)
- Diastobranchus Barnard, 1923
- Haptenchelys C. H. Robins & D. M. Martin, 1976
- Histiobranchus Gill, 1883
- Synaphobranchus J. Y. Johnson, 1862
References
edit- ^ Thomas J. Near; Christine E. Thacker. "Phylogenetic Classification of Living and Fossil Ray-Finned Fishes (Actinopterygii)". Bulletin of the Peabody Museum of Natural History. 65 (1): 3–302. doi:10.3374/014.065.0101.
- ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Family Synaphobranchidae". FishBase. December 2012 version.
- ^ "eel | fish". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2017-05-15.
- ^ "Marine Species Identification Portal : Cutthroat eels - Family Synaphobranchidae". species-identification.org. Retrieved 2017-05-15.
- ^ McCosker, John F. (1998). Paxton, J.R.; Eschmeyer, W.N. (eds.). Encyclopedia of Fishes. San Diego: Academic Press. p. 90. ISBN 0-12-547665-5.
- ^ Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Synaphobranchidae". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 6 November 2024.
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