e728 The Apodes, or Eel-like Fishes 
In many of the morays the jaws are so curved and the 
mouth so filled with knife-like teeth that the jaws cannot be 
closed. This fact, however, renders no assistance to their prey, 
as the teeth are adapted for holding as well as for cutting. 
In Enchelynassa bleekeri, a huge wine-colored eel of the South 
Seas, the teeth are larger than in any other species. Evenchelys 
Fig. 281.—Murwna retifera Garman. Charleston, 8. C. 
(macrurus) is remarkable for its extraordinary length of tail, 
Echidna for its blunt teeth, and Scuticaria, Uropterygius, and 
Channomurena for the almost complete absence of fins. In 
Anarchias (allardicei; knight), the anal fin is absent. The flesh 
of the morays is rather agreeable in taste, but usually oily and 
not readily digestible, less wholesome than that of the true eels. 
The Myrocongride are small morays with developed pectoral 
fins. The species are few and little known. 
Family Moringuide.—Structurally one of the most peculiar 
of the groups of eels is the small family of Moringuide of the 
East and West Indies. In these very slender, almost worm- 
like fishes the heart is placed very far behind the gills and 
the tail is very short. The fins are very little developed, and 
some forms, as Gordtichihys irretitus of the Gulf of Mexico, the 
body as slender as a whiplash, possess a very great number of 
vertebre. Moringua hawaziensis occurs in Hawaii, M. edwards 
in the Bahamas. This family probably belongs with the morays 
to the group of Colocephalz, although its real relationships are 
not wholly certain. 
Order Carencheli, the Long-necked Eels.—Certain offshoots from 
the Apodes so widely diverging in structure that they must 
apparently be considered as distinct orders occur sparingly 
in the deep seas. One of these, Dertchthys serpentinus, the 
