370 The Apodes or Eel-like Fishes 
chelys melanctenia. The commonest species on the Atlantic 
coast is the plainly colored Ophichthus gomest. 
Fic. 276 —Xyrias revulsus Jordan & Snyder. Family Ophichthyide. Misaki, Japan. 
In the genus Sphagebranchus, very slender eels of the reefs, 
the fins are almost wanting. 
Fig. 277.—Myrichthys pantostigmius Jordan & McGregor. Clarion Island. 
Allied to the Congers is the small family of duck-billed eels 
(Nettastomide) inhabiting moderate depths of the sea. WNet- 
tastoma bolcense occurs in the Eocene of Monte Bolca. The pro- 
duced snout forms a transition to the really extraordinary type 
of thread-eels or snipe-eels (Nemuchthyide), of which numerous 
genera and species live in the oceanic depths. In Nemtchthys 
oI PA LEEILILLLD YL PLPC OPP Lahaye, 
een 
Pale ate Ea scree 
Fia. 278.—Ophichthus ocellatus (Le Sueur). Pensacola. 
the long, very slender, needle-like jaws are each curved back- 
ward so that the mouth cannot by any possibility be shut. 
The body is excessively slender and the fish swims with swift 
undulations, often near the surface, and when seen is usually 
