Heteroconger luteolus
Yellow Garden Eel
NS
GNR
Collection Details
Specimens
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Anguilliformes (True Eels)
Congridae (Conger Eels)
Heteroconger
Heteroconger luteolus (Yellow Garden 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
Very elongate body with reduced pectoral fins. Snout short, lower jaw projecting beyond upper jaw. Mouth oblique. Upper and lower labial flanges well developed and continuous around snout and lower jaw. Anterior nostril and ethmoid pore enclosed in upper flange. Posterior nostril anterior to midheight of eye. Snout 12%, eye 17-18%, and mouth length 16% of head length. Head length 18% and predorsal length 23% of preanal length. Jaw teeth in bands, small anteriorly but relatively large and directed forward posteriorly. Single, large, forwardly directed tooth anterior to intermaxillary teeth. Intermaxillary tooth patch broad anteriorly and continuous with vomerine teeth. Vomerine tooth patch long. Head pores reduced: two infraorbital and three supraorbital. Lateral line pores to anus number 46. Predorsal vertebrae 8 or 9, preanal vertebrae 52.
Pale yellow with tiny dark spots.
Distribution
Western North Atlantic, northeastern Gulf of Mexico (adults), northwestern Gulf of Mexico and Campeche Bank (leptocephali).
Habitat Associations
Depth range 33 to 37 m.
Biology
Total length unknown.
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
Smith 1989f
Smith 1989k
Castle, P.H.J. and J.E. Randall (1999) Revision of Indo-Pacific garden eels (Congridae: Heterocongrinae), with descriptions of five new species. Indo-Pac. Fish. (30):52 p.
Bogutskaya, N.G. (2007) Preliminary assignment of coordinates to type localities in the Catalog of Fishes. Unpublished dbf file.
Comments On Heteroconger luteolus