The bobtail snipe eels are two species of deep-sea
eels in the family Cyematidae, one only in each of two
genera
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...
. They are small elongate fishes, growing up to 16cm (6 in) in length.
The family Cyematidae is characterized by thin, short bodies with long jaws and small teeth and eyes. In addition, they possess the confluent dorsal, caudal, and anal fins in the posterior position. Species were thought to inhabit only the Southern Atlantic, until two new specimens were captured in the Northern Atlantic in 2006 and 2008.
They are
bathypelagic
The bathypelagic zone or bathyal zone (from Greek βαθύς (bathýs), deep) is the part of the open ocean that extends from a depth of below the ocean surface. It lies between the mesopelagic above, and the abyssopelagic below. The bathypelagic ...
(deep-water ocean-dwellers) and have been found down to 5,000 m (16,400 ft). They are found in all oceans and do not undergo vertical diurnal migration.
See also
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List of fish families
This is a list of fish families sorted alphabetically by scientific name. There are 525 families in the list.
__NOTOC__
A - B - C - D - E - F -
G - H - I - J - K -
L - M - N - O - P - R - S - T - U - V - W - X - Y - Z
- ...
References
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Cyematidae
Deep sea fish
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