Echiophis intertinctus
Spotted Spoon-Nose Eel
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Anguilliformes (True Eels)
Ophichthidae (Snake Eels)
Echiophis
Echiophis intertinctus (Spotted Spoon-Nose 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.)
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Characters
Relatively stout and cylindrical, with anus slightly posterior to mid-length and tail ending as a hard, finless blunt tip. Snout is short and subconical. Jaws are elongate and subequal. Lips lack barbels. Anterior nostril is tubular. Posterior nostril is in short tube. Eye is moderate sized. Jaw teeth are stout, conical, and biserial. Upper jaw has single row of 4 or 5 large to fanglike teeth anteriorly and biserial row posteriorly, with outer row of 14 to 26 large stout teeth generally interspersed with smaller teeth, and inner row of 8 to 14 small uniform teeth. Intermaxillary teeth consist of outer circle of 5 teeth and 2 stout median teeth. Vomerine teeth number 20 to 43 small teeth separated from intermaxillary teeth and are arranged in two converging rows. Dorsal fin originates behind pectoral fin tip. Snout is 11% to 14%, eye is 5.2% to 9.2%, mouth length is 40% to 48%, and pectoral fin length is 20% to 28% of head length. Head length is 11% to 12%, trunk length is 32% to 37%, predorsal length is 13% to 17%, and depth behind gill openings is 2.9% to 4.4% of TL. Infraorbital pores number six, supraorbital pores number four, preopercular pores number two, and supratemporal pores number three. Total vertebrae number 125 to 128, predorsal vertebrae number 14 to 18, and preanal vertebrae number 53 to 58.
Color is cream, slightly darker dorsally than ventrally, with faint tan to yellow stripe at base of median fins and two to three irregular rows of large brown spots above lateral line. Spots are larger than eye to larger than pectoral fin. Median fins are pale basally and spotted to striped marginally.
Distribution
Western Atlantic from North Carolina to southern Florida, the Gulf of Mexico
From the west coast of Florida to just west of Mobile Bay and off Yucatan in the Gulf of Mexico
Habitat Associations
Near shore to 64 m
Biology
Maximum known size is 1,030 mm TL
Males mature between 478 and 863 mm TL, and females mature between 420 and 855 mm TL
Found on soft bottoms.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2011-07-20. Resilience: Low (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
Distinguished from the other species of the family by the combination of characters described
References
Hoese and Moore 1976
C. R. Robins et al. 1986
McCosker et al. 1989
Leiby 1989
Boschung 1992
Cervigón, F., R. Cipriani, W. Fischer, L. Garibaldi, M. Hendrickx, A.J. Lemus, R. Márquez, J.M. Poutiers, G. Robaina and B. Rodriguez (1992) Fichas FAO de identificación de especies para los fines de la pesca. Guía de campo de las especies comerciales marinas y de aquas salobres de la costa septentrional de Sur América. FAO, Rome. 513 p. Preparado con el financiamento de la Comisión de Comunidades Europeas y de NORAD.
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.
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