Genus: Pythonichthys, Mud Eel, Mud Eels

PYTHONICHTHYS

MUD EELS

Body moderately elongate, circular in cross-section at front; tail ~ 75% of TL; a long blunt head, with a low skin ridge on side of snout before eye; tiny, skin-covered eyes; front nostril round, with a raised rim, rear nostril a slit just before and above eye; mouth opens at front, extends well past eye, with more or less equal jaws, with a pair of fleshy folds on its roof and papillae on top lip before front nostril; teeth conical to molariform, 2-3 rows on jaws, 1-several rows on roof of mouth; gill openings are crescents low on the body; no pectoral fin; dorsal and anal fins are low and confluent with the soft tail fin; dorsal fin origin over the gill opening; no lateral line, no pores on head; no scales.

This tropical genus, with 5 species, occurs on both sides of the Atlantic and in the eastern Pacific; one west Atlantic species occurs in the Greater Caribbean.