Common Name
Brazilian Sailfin Eel
Year Described
McCosker, 1974
Identification
Vertebrae: 157-164
Body elongate and compressed. Trunk much longer than tail (tail only ~39% of TL). Snout pointed laterally, bluntly rounded dorsally, and overhangs mouth. Underside of snout without median groove. Eye small and around middle of jaw. Mouth very small. Anterior nostril a simple flush hole (not tubular). Posterior nostril opens into mouth. Teeth slender and pointed. Maxillary teeth 10. Lower jaw with 19 teeth in a single row. Intermaxillary with 3 teeth. Vomer with 4 teeth in one row. Gill openings crescent-shaped, low on body and converging anteriorly. Gill pouch inflated and grooved. Dorsal fin origin on top of head, elevated in front and ending well short of tail tip. Anal fin absent. Pectoral and caudal fins absent. Tail tip hard and pointed. Lateral line complete. Suborbital pores 4. Supraorbital pores 4.
Color
Body cream colored with a dark lateral stripe. Head with a dark saddle behind eye and thin brown bands across snout and between eyes. Dorsal fin white.
Size
Maximum size to 21.5cm TL.
Habitat
Shallow coastal waters. Type material taken in a tidal pool of mixed rock and sand.
Range
Eastern to southern Brazil. Records of larval specimens from the North Atlantic to this species are unconfirmed.
References
Böhlke, E. B. (ed.). 1989. Volume One: Orders Anguilliformes and Saccopharyngiformes. Volume Two: Leptocephali. Fishes of the western North Atlantic. Memoirs of the Sears Foundation of Marine Research Mem. 1 (part 9): v. 1:i-xvii + 1-655; 2:i-vii + 657-1055.
McCosker, J. E. 1974. A revision of the ophichthid eel genus Letharchus. Copeia, 619-629.
Other Notes
The two Atlantic species, even ignoring the assumption of geographic separation, are separable by vertebral counts and coloration pattern.