Worm Eels of the genus
Neenchelys are small
burrowing Eels found in the Indian ans Pacific Oceans. There are
currently about ten described species, with other undescribed species
known in museum and university collections.
In a
paper published in the journal Zootaxa on 24 December 2015, Yusuke
Hibino of the Fisheries Research Laboratory at Mie University, Ukkrit
Satapoomin of the Phuket Marine Biological Center and Seishi Kimura,
also of the Fisheries Research Laboratory describe a new species of
Worm Eel from the Andaman Sea.
The
new species is named Neenchelys andamanensis,
meaning 'from the Andaman'. It is described from a single specimen
collected from a depth of between 520 and 531 m off the coast of
Phucket in 1999, and held in the collection of the Phuket Marine
Biological Center. The specimen is 336 mm in length, and is of
uncertain sex. It can be differentiated from other species in the
same genus by the number of ribs and tail vertebrae.
Neenchelys
andamanensis, 336 mm TL,
Andaman Sea. (A) position of anus, (D) origin of dorsal fin. Hibino
et al.
(2015).
See also...
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