Pelican eel

Pelican eel
The mouth of the pelican eel can open wide enough to swallow prey much larger than the eel itself

Secure  (NatureServe)[2]
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Anguilliformes
Family: Eurypharyngidae
Gill, 1883
Genus: Eurypharynx
Vaillant, 1882
Species:
E. pelecanoides
Binomial name
Eurypharynx pelecanoides
Vaillant, 1882
Synonyms

Gastrostomus pacificus
Macropharynx longicaudatus
Gastrostomus bairdii
Eurypharynx richardi
Leptocephalus pseudolatissimus

Conventional and X-ray images of preserved Eurypharynx pelecanoides

The pelican eel (Eurypharynx pelecanoides) is a deep-sea eel. It is the only known member of the genus Eurypharynx and the family Eurypharyngidae. It belongs to the "saccopharyngiforms", members of which were historically placed in their own order, but are now considered true eels in the order Anguilliformes.[3] The pelican eel has been described by many synonyms, yet nobody has been able to demonstrate that more than one species of pelican eel exists.[4] It is also referred to as the gulper eel (which can also refer to members of the related genus Saccopharynx), pelican gulper, and umbrella-mouth gulper.[5] The specific epithet pelecanoides refers to the pelican, as the fish's large mouth is reminiscent of that of the pelican.

  1. ^ "IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: Eurypharynx pelecanoides". 9 May 2014.
  2. ^ "Eurypharynx pelecanoides". NatureServe Explorer. Retrieved 19 April 2024.
  3. ^ Poulsen, Jan Y.; Miller, Michael J.; Sado, Tetsuya; Hanel, Reinhold; Tsukamoto, Katsumi; Miya, Masaki; Fugmann, Sebastian D. (25 July 2018). "Resolving deep-sea pelagic saccopharyngiform eel mysteries: Identification of Neocyema and Monognathidae leptocephali and establishment of a new fish family "Neocyematidae" based on larvae, adults and mitogenomic gene orders". PLOS ONE. 13 (7): e0199982. Bibcode:2018PLoSO..1399982P. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0199982. PMC 6059418. PMID 30044814.
  4. ^ Nielsen, Jørgen G.; E. Bertelsen; Åse Jespersen (September 1989). "The Biology of Eurypharynx pelecanoides (Pisces, Eurypharyngidae)". Acta Zoologica. 70 (3): 187–197. doi:10.1111/j.1463-6395.1989.tb01069.x.
  5. ^ Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Eurypharynx pelecanoides". FishBase. February 2015 version.