Avocet snipe-eel
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| Avocettina infans Gûnther, 1878 |
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The avocet snipe-eel, Avocettina infans, is a snipe eel of the family Nemichthyidae, found in all oceans except the Mediterranean and the eastern Pacific, at depths between 50 and 4,500 m. Their length is up to 75 cm.
The avocet snipe-eel is snake-like but very thin with the dorsal fin beginning above the small pectoral fins. The extremely thin widely curved jaws are covered with minute file-like teeth.
The colour is uniform dusky brown except the jaws, pectoral fins, and lower abdomen which are paler. Avocet snipe-eels live in the unlit mid oceanic depths and very little is known about them.
[edit] References
- Avocettina infans (TSN 161619). Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Accessed on 19 March 2006.
- "Avocettina infans". FishBase. Ed. Ranier Froese and Daniel Pauly. January 2006 version. N.p.: FishBase, 2006.
- Tony Ayling & Geoffrey Cox, Collins Guide to the Sea Fishes of New Zealand, (William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1982) ISBN 0-00-216987-8
