Synbranchidae Bonaparte 1835

Angulo, Arturo, Betts, Joel T., González-Alemán, Néstor J., Castañeda, Edgar, Berghe, Eric Van Den, Elías, Diego J., Mcmahan, Caleb D. & Matamoros, Wilfredo A., 2023, Continental fishes of Nicaragua: diversity, distribution and conservation status; with an annotated and illustrated checklist of species and an identification guide to families, Zootaxa 5376 (1), pp. 1-89 : 38

Family Synbranchidae Bonaparte 1835 ( Fig. 3K ). Swamp Eels; Anguilas de Pantano, Anguilas de Lodo, Anevilas, Anguilas Falsas

Description: Body elongate, eel-shaped, more or less rounded in cross section; up to 100 cm in length; scales absent; eyes small (some species functionally blind with eyes sunken below skin); anterior and posterior nostrils widely separated; pectoral and pelvic fins absent (pectorals present in early development of some species); dorsal and anal fins vestigial (reduced to a rayless ridge); caudal fin usually vestigial to absent (Nelson et al. 2016). Distribution: Tropical and subtropical freshwater, some species occasionally in brackish water (rarely marine); western Africa, Liberia, Asia, Indo-Australian Archipelago and from Mexico to South America (Nelson et al. 2016). Two genera and two species in Nicaraguan freshwaters.

Figures

FIGURE 3. Families of continental fishes of Nicaragua, part 2; Bryconidae (A), Characidae (B), Gymnotidae (C), Loricariidae (D), Heptapteridae (E), Ariidae (F), Batrachoididae (G), Syngnathidae (H), Eleotridae (I), Gobiidae (J), Synbranchidae (K), Centropomidae (L), Polynemidae (M) and Paralichthyidae (N). Illustrations adapted (with permission) from Nelson et al. (2016) and Angulo et al. (2021).