Synaphobranchus brevidorsalis
No common name
NS
GNR
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
There are no photos available for this taxon yet.
Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Anguilliformes (True Eels)
Synaphobranchidae (Cutthroat Eels)
Synaphobranchus
Synaphobranchus brevidorsalis
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.
It may contain errors in spelling, punctuation, or formatting.
When citing, please reference the original source rather than this page.
Learn more about our species accounts.
Characters
Moderately slender and compressed, with lower jaw longer than upper jaw but with fleshy tip of snout overhanging tip of lower jaw. Snout has acute proboscis-like tip. Eye is large and oval shaped. Jaw teeth are small and pointed, with innermost teeth largest. Intermaxillary teeth are larger than other teeth and are arranged in narrow patch. Vomerine teeth are irregularly biserial anteriorly and uniserial posteriorly. Gape of mouth extends to slightly more than eye diameter beyond posterior margin of eye. Gill openings are midventral and open through common median slit. Pectoral fin tapers to point and is 1.5 to 2 times as long as snout length. Dorsal fin origin is posterior to level of anus at about midlength. Lower jaw length is 72% to 98% and eye length is 11% to 16% of head length. Head length is 10% to 14%, predorsal length is 45% to 52%, and body depth is 5.7% to 8% of TL. Total vertebrae number 130 to 140, precaudal vertebrae number 60 to 68, and caudal vertebrae number 64 to 78. Pectoral fin rays number 14 to 17. Scales are round to oval, embedded, and irregularly arranged.
Color is brown, often lighter dorsally than ventrally.
Distribution
In the western Atlantic it occurs from the Middle Atlantic Bight to southern Brazil
rare in the Gulf of Mexico
Habitat Associations
worldwide in tropical to warm temperate seas, Depths of capture range from 545 to 1,635 m
Biology
Maximum known size is 1,175 mm TL
A benthic species (Ref. 75154) found on the continental slope (Ref. 7300, 75154). Minimum depth reported taken from Ref. 86942.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2019-11-06. Resilience: Medium (Assuming fecundity > 100).
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
distinguished from the other species of the family by the following combination of characters
References
Robins 1971
Martin 1984
Robins and Robins 1989
Weitkamp, D.E. and R.D. Sullivan (2003) Gas bubble disease in resident fish of the lower Clark Fork River. Trans. Am. Fish. Soc. 132(5):865-876.
Sulak, K.J. and Y.N. Shcherbachev (1997) Zoogeography and systematics of six deep-living genera of synaphobranchid eels, with a key to taxa and description of two new species of Ilyophis. Bull. Mar. Sci. 60(3):1158-1194.
Fricke, R., M. Kulbicki and L. Wantiez (2011) Checklist of the fishes of New Caledonia, and their distribution in the Southwest Pacific Ocean (Pisces). Stuttgarter Beiträge zur Naturkunde A, Neue Serie 4:341-463.
Comments On Synaphobranchus brevidorsalis