Species: Aplatophis zorro, Snaggle-toothed snake-eel

Aplatophis zorro McCosker & Robertson, 2001

Snaggle-toothed snake-eel

Body stout, not elongate, compressed at rear; head and trunk slightly longer than tail (51-54% of TL); head long and fat, with a hump over and behind the eye; snout short, narrow, upper profile concave; mouth oblique, jaws elongate, the lower one projecting; tongue developed as a fleshy lure; front teeth developed as very large fangs extending outside mouth when closed; jaw teeth in two rows, teeth on roof of mouth few, a single series that joins those at front of jaws; a short barbel below eye; eye small, low on head above and a little before middle of mouth; front nostril tubular, rear nostril a tube before and beneath eye; gill opening vertical, elongate, on side; dorsal fin origin behind pectoral tips; tail tip blunt; pectoral fins pointed, with narrow base.

Body and head grey-brown, paler on lower 1/3; eye grey; pectoral fin a little darker than body; dorsal fin same color as body, with thin black margin; anal fin same color as lower body with outer 1/3 black; tip of tail pale; lateral line pores on body not in pale spots; pores around mouth and on side of head above and before gill opening in small pale spots; lines of white dots on side and top of the head, which form the letter U across the top of the head (when viewed from above) and a zigzag on the side of the head that forms the letter Z on the right side.

Size: 104 cm.

Habitat: mud bottom in estuary. Known from a single specimen collected by a shrimp trawler.

Depth: 5-10 m.

Eastern Panama.