Species: Paraletharchus opercularis, Pouched sailfin-eel

Paraletharchus opercularis (Myers & Wade, 1941)

Pouched sailfin-eel

Body elongate, compressed; eye relatively small: diameter = 1/3 length of lower jaw, 3.6-5.2% of head length;   head and trunk longer than tail; front nostril tubular, down pointing, under snout; rear nostril a slit in upper lip just before eye; jaw teeth small, pointed and close set and in single rows; gill openings below, converging anteriorly; gill chamber a large inflated pouch; tail tip a hard finless point; dorsal fin high, origin on head; no anal fin; no pectoral fins.

Yellow to tan; head with dense to sparse scattering of small dark spots, with 2-6 dark bars across chin and throat; body with a row of large dark spots along back just below dorsal fin, a row of smaller spots immediately above lateral line, which is translucent, and another below that line, another row along the ventral surface, those spots becoming crowded and fusing with each other posteriorly; dorsal fin white with narrow dark margin of spots.

Size: 65 cm.

Habitat: sandy bottoms.

Depth: to 10 m.

The Revillagigedos, Cocos and Galapagos.