''Ariosoma kapala'' (common name mottled conger) is an

eel Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 20 families, 164 genera, and about 1000 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

in the family

Congridae The Congridae are the family of conger and garden eels. Congers are valuable and often large food fishes, while garden eels live in colonies, all protruding from the sea floor after the manner of plants in a garden (thus the name). The family in ...

(conger/garden eels). It was first described in 1990 by Peter H. J. Castle as ''Poeciloconger kapala''. The

holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

was collected by the New South Wales Fisheries Research Vessel ''Kapala'' on April 11, 1985, during a bottom trawl at a depth of 46–64 m. The species was named for the FRV ''Kapala''. In 1998, Shieh-Chieh Shen moved the species to the genus ''

Ariosoma ''Ariosoma'' is a genus of marine congrid true eel, eels. Species There are 42 species currently recognized in this genus by William N. Eschmeyer, Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes: * ''Ariosoma albimaculatum'' Kodeeswaran, Dash, Kumar & Lal, 2022 * ...

''. It is a

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning "the depths". ...

species, endemic to the east coast of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and found in the

neritic zone The neritic zone (or sublittoral zone) is the relatively shallow part of the ocean above the drop-off of the continental shelf, approximately in depth. From the point of view of marine biology it forms a relatively stable and well-illuminate ...

References

kapala A kapala (Sanskrit for "skull") is a skull cup used as a ritual implement (bowl) in both Buddhism Tantra and Tibetan Buddhist Tantra (Vajrayana). Especially in Tibetan Buddhism, kapalas are often carved or elaborately mounted with precious met ...

Fish of the Pacific Ocean Marine fish of Australia Endemic fauna of Australia Taxa named by Peter Henry John Castle Fish described in 1990 {{Anguilliformes-stub