FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



159 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — This eel has 

 not actually been reported within the geographic 

 limits of the Gulf. But it is to be expected in the 

 eastern channel and possibly above 150 fathoms 

 along the slopes of Georges Bank, for fishermen 

 have caught them in water as shallow as that off 

 La Have Bank, while they have been trawled in 

 168 fathoms and 129 fathoms off southern New 

 England by the Fish Hawk and Albatross. So 

 many of them have been brought in by fishermen 80 

 from deep water off the fishing banks to the east- 

 ward of longitude 65°, and so many have been 

 trawled along the continental slope thence west- 

 ward, 81 that this eel must be one of the commonest 

 of fishes below 150 to 200 fathoms, all the way 

 from the Grand Banks to abreast of New York. 



Snake eel Omochelys cruentifer (Goode and Bean) 

 1895 



Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 377, Pisodonophis 



cruentifer. 



Description.- — The most striking feature of the 

 snake eel and one that distinguishes it from all 

 other Gulf of Maine eels is that the tip of its tail 

 is hard and pointed. Other distinctive features 

 are that it is only about one thirty-seventh to 

 one thirty-eighth as deep as it is long; that its 

 dorsal fin originates oidy a short distance behind 

 the tips of the pectorals when these are laid back; 

 that its anal fin originates far behind its dorsal 

 fin; that its snout is bluntly pointed; and that 

 its mouth gapes rearward considerably beyond its 

 eyes (but not so far back as in the long-nosed eel, 

 p. 158). The dorsal and anal fins end a little in 

 front of the tip of the tail. The gill openings 



M Many such Instances are listed In the Rept. U. S. Comm. Fish. (1879) 

 1882, p. 787. 



" Goodo and Bean, Smithsonian Contrlb. Know]., vol. 30, 1895, pd. 143-144. 



are short new-moon-shaped slits, close in front 

 of the bases of the pectoral fins. Its "peculiar 

 and savage physiognomy" was stressed by its 

 describers. 82 



Color. — Originally described as uniform brown- 

 ish yellow. But those that we have seen have 

 been uniform light brown below as well as above, 

 large ones darker than small ones. A young one 

 about 2}{ inches (6% cm.) long was pale with 

 dark speckles. 



Size. — The largest yet seen was 16% inches long. 



Habits. — The original account of the snake eel 

 includes the information that specimens had been 

 received that had been taken from the bodies of 

 other fish, evidence that it is a parasitic-boring 

 form. Nothing else is known of its habits. 



General range. — Western side of the Gulf of 

 Maine to the offing of Cape Henry, Va. 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — The snake 

 eel was originally described in 1895 from 6 speci- 

 mens trawled off Nantucket by the Fish Hawk, 

 and a number have been taken thence southward 

 to the latitude of Cape Henry, Va., by the Alba- 

 tross II, in depths of 24 to 245 fathoms. The 

 only report of it within the Gulf of Maine is by its 

 describers of specimens taken by fishermen on 

 Jeffreys Bank many years ago. 



Snipe eel Nemichthys scolopaceus Richardson 1848 



Jordan and Evermann, 1896-1900, p. 369. 



Description. — The snipe eel is easily recognizable 

 by its extremely slender body (the fish may be 

 75 times as long as deep), with its tail tapering 

 to a thread, and by its elongate, slender, bill-like 

 jaws, one as long as the other, the upper one 

 curving upward, but the lower more nearly 



>' Ooode and Bean, Smithsonian Contrlb. Knowl., vol. 30, 1895, p. 147. 



; 



Figure 73. — Snake eel (Omochelys cruentifer), continental slope south of Nantucket Shoals. From Goode and Bean. 



Drawing by H. L. Todd. 



