Synaphobranchus oregoni
No common name
Collection Details
Specimens
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Anguilliformes (True Eels)
Synaphobranchidae (Cutthroat Eels)
Synaphobranchus
Synaphobranchus oregoni
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
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 enlarged, irregularly arranged, and biserial anteriorly. Gape of mouth extends to one eye diameter past posterior margin of eye or beyond. Gill openings are midventral and open through common median slit. Pectoral fin tapers to point. Dorsal fin origin is about one head length posterior to level of anus. Infraorbital pores number 10, supraorbital pores number 5, preoperculo-mandibular pores number 12, and supratemporal pores number 5. Snout length is 24% to 36%, eye is 12% to 19%, and lower jaw length is 49% to 67% of head length. Body depth is 5% to 12% of TL. Total vertebrae number 140 to 150, precaudal vertebrae number 55 to 61, and caudal vertebrae number 82 to 87. Scales are large, polygonal or rounded, embedded, and in basket-weave pattern.
Color is brown, often with reddish or orangish cast in large specimens. Abdomen, branchial region, bases of fins, and caudal fin are darker than remainder of body. Peritoneum is black.
Distribution
Western North Atlantic from the Middle Atlantic Bight, the Straits of Florida, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea.
Common in the Gulf of Mexico, especially on soft bottoms of the western Gulf
Habitat Associations
Soft bottoms, depth range 545 to at least 1,200 m
Biology
Food consists of crustaceans, squids, and fishes.
Maximum known size is 700 mm TL.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2009-02-04. Resilience: Medium (Assuming fecundity > 100).
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
Distinguished from other species of the family by the combination of characters described.
References
Castle 1960
Robins 1971
Martin 1984
Robins and Robins 1989
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.
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