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Nemichthys scolopaceus Richardson, 1848

Slender snipe eel
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Nemichthys scolopaceus   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Nemichthys scolopaceus (Slender snipe eel)
Nemichthys scolopaceus
Picture by Román Marcote, E.

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Anguilliformes (Eels and morays) > Nemichthyidae (Snipe eels)
Etymology: Nemichthys: Greek, nema, -atos = filament + Greek, ichthys = fish (Ref. 45335); scolopaceus: From the Latin 'scolopax' referring to the long bill-like jaws (Ref. 6885).
More on author: Richardson.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; bathypelagic; depth range 0 - 4337 m (Ref. 96339), usually 100 - 1000 m (Ref. 58302). Deep-water; 55°N - 42°S, 180°W - 180°E

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Worldwide in tropical and temperate seas. Western Atlantic: Nova Scotia, Canada and northern Gulf of Mexico to Brazil. Eastern Atlantic: Spain to South Africa, including western Mediterranean (Ref. 3247); reported from Iceland (Ref. 12462). Regularly found in the Skagerrak (Ref. 35387). Northwest Pacific: Japan (Ref. 6885) and Arafura Sea (Ref. 9819). Eastern Pacific: Alaska (Ref. 6885) to Chile (Ref. 9068), including the Gulf of California (Ref. 32364).

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 130 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 35388)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Anal spines: 0. Jaws long (Ref. 13608). Posterior end of body narrow, ending as a long filament (Ref. 13608). Dorsal fin with about 350 rays; caudal fin not recognizable; anal fin with about 320 (Ref. 6885). Dark brown or grey in color, often darker below (Ref. 3248); anal fin and tips of pectoral fins almost black (Ref. 6885).

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Occur in midwater, usually below 400 m and occasionally in shallow water in the northern part of its range. Feed on crustaceans while swimming with its mouth open (Ref. 5377). Mesopelagic (Ref. 58302) and bathypelagic (Ref. 58426). Oviparous, with planktonic leptocephali (Ref. 32364). Degenerative changes in males and females suggest semelparity (Ref. 32364). Minimum depth reported taken from Ref. 86942.

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Oviparous (Ref. 3247).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Nielsen, J.G. and D.G. Smith, 1978. The eel family Nemichthyidae (Pisces, Anguilliformes). Carlsberg Found., Dana-Rept. No. 88:71 p. (Ref. 7450)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435: Version 2024-1)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 14 July 2014

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

Fisheries: of no interest
FAO - Publication: search | FishSource | Sea Around Us

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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | National databases | OceanAdapt | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 4.3 - 21.1, mean 10.2 °C (based on 3474 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.6270   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00102 (0.00046 - 0.00225), b=3.06 (2.88 - 3.24), in cm total length, based on all LWR estimates for this body shape (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  3.5   ±0.0 se; based on diet studies.
Generation time: 3.7 ( na - na) years. Estimated as median ln(3)/K based on 1 growth studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (K=0.30; assuming semelparity with tm>5).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Moderate to high vulnerability (51 of 100).
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 19 [6, 42] mg/100g; Iron = 0.295 [0.130, 0.805] mg/100g; Protein = 18.3 [15.8, 21.0] %; Omega3 = 0.177 [0.057, 0.572] g/100g; Selenium = 34.9 [11.9, 103.1] μg/100g; VitaminA = 9.08 [1.04, 75.23] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.379 [0.201, 0.745] mg/100g (wet weight);