Genus: Bascanichthys, Sand Eel, Sand-Eels

BASCANICHTHYS

SAND-EELS

Body very elongate; head and trunk 52-77% of TL; front nostril tubular, rear nostril opens in mouth; head skin rough; eye small; snout short, blunt, grooved on underside; jaw teeth small, conical, in 1 row on jaws, 2 rows on roof of mouth; teeth between top jaws exposed when mouth is closed; gill opening crescent-like, at lower side; dorsal and anal fins low; dorsal origin before gill opening; tip of tail hard and finless; pectoral fin present as a small flap behind the upper half of the gill opening; lateral line complete, lines of each side of head connected by 2 canals with across top of head.

A circumtropical genus except for eastern Indian Ocean and central Pacific, with ~ 17 species; represented in the Greater Caribbean by 3 west Atlantic species.