Nettenchelys pygmaea Smith & Böhlke 1981

Smith, David G., Lin, James, Chen, Hong-Ming & Pogonoski, John J., 2015, The eels of the genus Nettenchelys, with description of a new species from Taiwan (Teleostei: Anguilliformes: Nettastomatidae), Zootaxa 4060 (1), pp. 105-120 : 117

Nettenchelys pygmaea Smith & Böhlke 1981

Fig. 1 a

Nettenchelys pygmaeus Smith & Böhlke in Smith et al. 1981:551, figs. 8A, 9, 10 (western Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, 29°52'N, 87°06.5'W, depth 128 m). Holotype. ANSP 142277 (male, 175 mm). Smith 1989:600.

Material examined. Paratype, USNM 200779 (1, 151 mm, mature female), 10°42' N, 67°56'W, 210 m. Other material. Holotype: ANSP 142277. Paratypes: ANSP 130812 (1, 167 mm), USA 0 3460 (1, 201 mm).

Diagnosis. Anterior vomerine teeth uniserial, enlarged; posterior nostril on head shortly behind posterior margin of eyes; median ST pore present; PDV 7–8; PAV 40–43; PCV 75; IO pores 8+3; PDL 33–35 % PAL; HL 30–33 % PAL; small size, mature at 150–200 mm. See Table 1 for additional characters.

Distribution. Adults are known from two widely separate locations in the western Atlantic: the northern Gulf of Mexico and the southern Caribbean Sea. Larvae are known from a much wider area, including the western Gulf of Mexico, the Bahamas and the Gulf Stream off the east coast of the United States, the Antilles, and the Sargasso Sea. The number of myomeres in these larvae shows a slight difference between specimens from the Gulf of Mexico (ca. 220–236, seven specimens) and elsewhere (ca. 227–251, 22 specimens) ( Smith & Castle 1982:16).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Position of the posterior nostrils in nine species of the genus Nettenchelys (modified after Karmovskaya, 1999). (a) N. pygmaea, N. proxima; (b) N. gephyra and N. dionisi; (c) N. inion; (d) N. paxtoni; (e) N. exoria; (f) N. erroriensis; and (g) N. taylori.