Sooty eel

Sooty eel
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Anguilliformes
Family:	Ophichthidae
Genus:	Bascanichthys
Species:	B. bascanium
Binomial name
Bascanichthys bascanium (Jordan, 1884)
Synonyms[1]
Caecula bascanium Jordan, 1884 Leptocephalus gilberti Eigenmann & Kennedy, 1902

The sooty eel[2] (Bascanichthys bascanium) is an eel in the family Ophichthidae (worm/snake eels).[3] It was described by David Starr Jordan in 1884, originally under the genus Caecula.[4] It is a marine, subtropical eel which is known from the western Atlantic Ocean, including North Carolina and Florida, USA, and the Gulf of Mexico. It dwells at a depth range of 0 to 27 metres (0 to 89 ft). Males can reach a maximum total length of 70 centimetres (2.3 ft).[3]

The sooty eel is preyed on by the Atlantic tripletail.[5]

References

1. Synonyms of Bascanichthys bascanium at www.fishbase.org.
2. Common names of Bascanichthys bascanium at www.fishbase.org.
3. Bascanichthys bascanium at www.fishbase.org.
4. Jordan, D. S., 1884 (22 Apr.) [ref. 10442] List of fishes from Egmont Key, Florida, in the Museum of Yale College, with description of two new species. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia v. 36: 42-46.
5. Organisms Preying on Bascanichthys bascanium at www.fishbase.org.