Colocongridae

Colocongridae
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Superorder:	Elopomorpha
Order:	Anguilliformes
Family:	Colocongridae
Genus:	Coloconger Alcock, 1889
Species
See text

The Colocongridae, the Worm eels or Short-tail eels are a family of eels, containing a single genus, Coloconger.

Colongrids are found in tropical waters of the Atlantic, Indian, and West Pacific oceans. They are bottom-dwelling fish, living in waters from 300 metres (980 ft) to 900 metres (3,000 ft) depth.^[1] Compared with other eels, they have a relatively short and stubby body, with a blunt snout.

Species

There are eight known species of Colocongrid:^[2]

Family Colocongridae

• Genus Coloconger
  • Coloconger cadenati Kanazawa, 1961
  • Coloconger canina (Castle & Raju, 1975)
  • Coloconger eximia (Castle, 1967)
  • Coloconger giganteus (Castle, 1959) (Giant leptocephalus) (Validity doubtful)
  • Coloconger japonicus Machida, 1984
  • Coloconger meadi Kanazawa, 1957
  • Coloconger raniceps Alcock, 1889 (Froghead eel)
  • Coloconger scholesi W. L. Chan, 1967 (Indo-Pacific short-tail conger)

See also

• List of fish families

References

1. ^ McClosker, John F. (1998). Paxton, J.R. & Eschmeyer, W.N.. ed. Encyclopedia of Fishes. San Diego: Academic Press. p. 89. ISBN 0-12-547665-5. 
2. ^ Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2011). "Colocongridae" in FishBase. June 2011 version.