Avocet snipe-eel

Taxobox
name = Avocet snipe-eel

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image_width = 240px
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Actinopterygii
ordo = Anguilliformes
familia = Nemichthyidae
genus = "Avocettina"
species = "A. infans"
range_

range_map_caption=
binomial = "Avocettina infans"
binomial_authority = Gûnther, 1878

The avocet snipe-eel, "Avocettina infans", is a snipe eel of the family Nemichthyidae, found in all oceans except the Mediterranean and the eastern Pacific, at depths between 50 and 4,500 m. Their length is up to 75 cm. The avocet snipe-eel is snake-like but very thin with the dorsal fin beginning above the small pectoral fins. The extremely thin widely curved jaws are covered with minute file-like teeth.

The colour is uniform dusky brown except the jaws, pectoral fins, and lower abdomen which are paler. Avocet snipe-eels live in the unlit mid oceanic depths and very little is known about them.

References

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* Tony Ayling & Geoffrey Cox, "Collins Guide to the Sea Fishes of New Zealand", (William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1982) ISBN 0-00-216987-8