Echiophis punctifer
Snapper Eel
Collection Details
Specimens
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Anguilliformes (True Eels)
Ophichthidae (Snake Eels)
Echiophis
Echiophis punctifer (Snapper 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 teeth are uniserial anteriorly and biserial posteriorly, with 14 to 26 stout teeth in outer row and 8 to 14 small teeth in inner row. Lower jaw has 4 to 6 large teeth anteriorly and biserial row posteriorly, with 14 to 22 teeth in outer row and 14 to 26 small teeth in inner row. Intermaxillary teeth consist of outer circle of 5 teeth and 2 stout median teeth. Vomerine teeth are separated from intermaxillary teeth and are arranged in two rows. Head pores are small, with six infraorbital, four supraorbital, three preopercular, and three supratemporal. Snout is 11% to 14%, eye is 4.8% to 7.9%, mouth length is 42% to 52%, and pectoral fin length is 25% to 32% of head length. Head length is 11% to 13%, trunk length is 32% to 35%, predorsal length is 16% to 19%, and depth behind gill openings is 3.2% to 5% of TL. Total vertebrae number 130 to 143, predorsal vertebrae number 16 to 19, and preanal vertebrae number 54 to 61.
Color is tan, with brown stripe on each side of dorsal fin, faint brown to yellow stripe along lateral line, and reddish brown ventral stripe along base of anal fin. Numerous small brown spots, about equal to eye, form six to eight indistinct rows on body. Vertical fins are pale basally and spotted or striped marginally.
Distribution
Western Atlantic, from Mobile Bay to Texas, and in the Caribbean Sea
Occurs in the western Gulf of Mexico, from Mobile Bay to Texas
Habitat Associations
Tropical to warm temperate waters of the Atlantic Ocean, from near shore to 100 m
Biology
Maximum known size is 1,191 mm TL
Males mature between 590 and 868 mm TL, and females mature between 620 and 1,191 mm TL
Burrows in sand or mud in shallow water of the continental shelf near bays and lagoons (Ref. 4455).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2011-07-20. Resilience: Low (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
Distinguished from other species of the family by the combination of characters described
References
Ginsburg 1951
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.
Comments On Echiophis punctifer