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Species: Caralophia loxochila, Slantlip eel

All Families:   All Genera:   All Species:

no groove under snout
D origin on head, low
tail slightly < 1/2 TL
nostrils: front = hole, rear in mouth
teeth stout
no pectorals
gill openings under throat

Caralophia loxochila Böhlke, 1955

Slantlip eel

Elongate, cylindrical; head and body 52-55% of TL; head short, rough-skinned, snout conical, blunt from above, sharply pointed from side, no central groove on its underside, overhanging mouth; front nostril a hole with wavy inner edges; rear nostril in top lip, covered by a flap, opens into mouth; teeth bluntly conical, stout, in 1 row on jaws (8-12 above, 8-11 below), 4 between top jaws, 1 row of 5-8 on roof of mouth, those between jaws at front and on roof of mouth are the largest; gill openings under throat, converging forwards, longer than space between them on throat; gill chamber an expanded pouch; dorsal and anal fins present; dorsal fin low, begins on head midway between eye and gill opening, and ends a little before tail tip; pectorals absent; tip of tail a hard finless point; lateral line complete, lines of each side of head connected by 2 canals with across top of head.

Uniform brown, darker above; fins pale; head and snout may be sharply darker than body.

Reaches 45.6 cm.

Sheltered areas, sand and seagrass bottoms; mainly found at islands.

Depth range: 0-12 m.

The Bahamas to Brazil.


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Salinity
  • Marine
  • Marine Only
Inshore/Offshore
  • Inshore
  • Inshore Only
Water Column Position
  • Bottom
  • Bottom only
Habitat
  • Submerged vegetation
  • Sand & gravel
  • Reef (rock/coral/oyster)
  • Soft bottom only
  • Soft bottom (mud/sand/gravel/beach/estuary/mangrove/seagrass)
  • Reef associated (reef + edges-water column & soft bottom)
FishBase Habitat
  • Reef Associated
  • Demersal
Feeding Group
  • Carnivore
  • Data
Diet
  • Data
  • Mobile benthic crustacea (shrimps/crabs)
  • Zooplankton
Egg Type
  • Data
  • Pelagic larva
  • Pelagic
Global Endemism
  • All species.
  • West Atlantic Endemic
  • Greater Caribbean non-endemic
Regional Endemism
  • Extends South of GC
  • All species..
  • Island (s)
  • Continent + Island (s)
  • Continent
  • Also in Brazil
  • GC non-endemic
Residency
  • Resident
Climate Zone
  • Subtropical (23-35N, Florida / Carolinas / Bermuda)
  • Equatorial (0-10N, Costa Rica / Venezuela)
  • Tropical (10-23N, Nicaragua / Cuba)
IUCN Red List
  • Listed
  • Least concern
CITES
  • Not listed
Length Max
  • 45.6
Depth Range Min
  • 0
Depth Range Max
  • 12