Bascanichthys bascanium
Sooty Eel
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Anguilliformes (True Eels)
Ophichthidae (Snake Eels)
Bascanichthys
Bascanichthys bascanium (Sooty Eel)
Description
This species account was compiled from
Composite (multiple sources) (McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm. Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. University of Texas Press, Austin.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
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Characters
Elongate, cylindrical anteriorly and compressed posteriorly, with anus posterior to midlength and tail ending as a hard, finless point. Snout short and blunt, overhangs lower jaw, and is grooved on underside. Lips lack barbels. Anterior nostril tubular. Posterior nostril opens into mouth. Eye small. Jaw teeth conical, recurved, and uniserial, with 15 or 16 in upper jaw and 15 to 18 in lower jaw. Intermaxillary teeth number 3 and form inverted V. Vomerine teeth separate from intermaxillary teeth, number 21, and are in two irregular rows. Gill openings low on sides, crescentic, and about as long as isthmus. Pectoral fin flaplike, and pectoral fin base is 44% to 11% of length of gill opening. Infraorbital pores number six, supraorbital pores number four, and supratemporal pores number three. Head length is 4.6% to 6.3%, trunk is 50% to 52%, predorsal length is 2% to 22.8%, and depth behind gill openings is 1.2% to 1.8% of TL. Total vertebrae number 182 to 189, predorsal vertebrae number 1 or 2, and preanal vertebrae number 95 to 102.
Dark dorsally and pale ventrally, with head and fins paler than body.
Distribution
Western North Atlantic from North Carolina to Florida and in the eastern Gulf of Mexico to Texas
Texas and the Bay of Campeche
Habitat Associations
Shallow sandy beaches to 24 m
Biology
Maximum known size is 786 mm TL
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2011-08-15. Resilience: Medium (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
Distinguished from other species of the family by the combination of characters described
References
Leiby and Yerger 1980
C. R. Robins et al. 1986
McCosker et al. 1989
Leiby 1989
Boschung 1992
Robins, C.R. and G.C. Ray (1986) A field guide to Atlantic coast fishes of North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, U.S.A. 354 p.
Bogutskaya, N.G. (2007) Preliminary assignment of coordinates to type localities in the Catalog of Fishes. Unpublished dbf file.
Comments On Bascanichthys bascanium