Description: A deep-water eel. Grey to greyish brown in color, darker on fin edges and along lateral line. Body with scales in grouped, right-angle basketweave pattern. Short round head, blunt, cylindrical. Small mouth; strongly plicate lips around the slit-like mouth. Gill openings low on the body, below pectoral fins.
Global Distribution: Eastern Atlantic from France to Cape Verde; also off South Africa; Western Atlantic; Pacific Ocean. View Map
Depth range: FishBase: 136 - 2620 m, usually 500 - 1800 m.
Habitat: Bathydemersal. Found on the continental slope and upper abyssal depths.
Feeding habits: Juveniles feed on epibenthic invertebrates, whereas adults are mostly scavenging, feeding on the remains or fishes and marine mammals. Also facultatively endoparasitic on fishes, having been found inside sharks (Etmopterus princeps, Odontaspis ferox, and Isurus oxyrhinchus) with their stomachs full of blood.
Trophic level: FishBase: 3.7
FISHERIES
Commercial interest: Global: Not commercial.
Europe: Least concern.
Conservation status: Least concern.
Nutritional information & food safety:
REFERENCES
Anderson M.E. (2005). Food habits of some deep-sea fish off South Africa's west coast. 2. Eels and spiny eels (Anguilliformes and Notacanthiformes). African Journal of Marine Science, 27(3): 557-566.
Brito A., Pascual P.J., Falcón J.M., Sancho A., González G. (2002). Peces de las islas Canarias. Catálogo comentado e ilustrado. Francisco Lemos Editor, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, 418 pp.
Caira J.N., Benz G.W., Borucinska J., Kohler N.E. (1997). Pugnose eels, Simenchelys parasiticus (Synaphobranchidae) from the heart of a shortfin mako, Isurus oxyrinchus (Lamnidae). Environmental Biology of Fishes, 49(1): 139-144.
Carpenter K.E., ed. (2002). The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Volume 2: Bony fishes part 1 (Acipenseridae to Grammatidae). FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes and American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5. FAO, Rome, pp. 601-1374.
IUCN (2014). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.1. www.iucnredlist.org
Nieto A., Ralph G.M., Comeros-Raynal M.T., Kemp J., GarcÃa Criado M., Allen D.J., Dulvy N.K., Walls R.H.L., Russell B., Pollard D., GarcÃa S., Craig M., Collette B.B., Pollom R., Biscoito M., Labbish Chao N., Abella A., Afonso P., Ãlvarez H., Carpenter K.E., Clò S., Cook R., Costa M.J., Delgado J., Dureuil M., Ellis J.R., Farrell E.D., Fernandes P., Florin A-B., Fordham S., Fowle, S., Gil de Sola L., Gil Herrera J., Goodpaster A., Harvey M., Heessen H., Herler J., Jung A., Karmovskaya E., Keskin C., Knudsen S.W., Kobyliansky S., KovaÄić M., Lawson J.M., Lorance P., McCully Phillips S., Munroe T., Nedreaas K., Nielsen J., Papaconstantinou C., Polidoro B., Pollock C.M., Rijnsdorp A.D., Sayer C., Scott J., Serena F., Smith-Vaniz W.F., Soldo A., Stump E., Williams J.T. (2015). Europen Red List of Marine Fishes. IUCN and European Union, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 90 pp.
