272 
THE CORAL TRIANGLE: HEARST BIODIVERSITY EXPEDITION 
Remarks.— A mostly circumglobal species, including the Hawaiian Islands, but absent in the eastern 
Pacific. 
SiMENCHELYIDAE (SnUBNOSE PARASITIC EELS) 
Simenchelys parasitica Gill, 1879 (Fig. 17a-b) 
Material.— CAS 235457 (463 mm TL, DC-1341); HEPD-011, otter trawl in 636-664 m. 
Remarks. — The only species in this family. Probably worldwide distribution in deep slope waters below 500 
m to more than 1500 m. 
Ophichthidae (Snake eels and Worm eels) 
Pylorobranchus hearstorum McCosker, 2014 (described in this volume) (Fig. 18) 
Material.— CAS 235464 (holotype, female, 1218 mm TL, DC-1426); HEPD 016, beam trawl in 892-966 
m. 
Remarks.— Tliis, the largest myrophine ophichthid yet known, is described in this volume on the basis of 
the single specimen collected during the expedition. 
Ophichthus cf. urolophus (Temminck and Schlegel, 1846) (Fig. 19) 
Material.— CAS 236637 (4, 429-635 mm TL, DC-1445, JM 541-543); HEPD-018, trap in 240-262 m. 
CAS 236638 (547 mm TL, DC-1269); HEPD-003, beam trawl in 272-291 m. CAS 236639 (3, 508-ca. 
630 mm TL); HEPD-010, beam trawl in 318-333 m. 
Remarks.— The eight Verde Island Passage specimens trawled and trapped between 240 m and 332 m are 
very similar in appearance and chai'acteristics to Ophichthus urolophus, a deepwater (40-420 m) 
ophichthid known from Japan, western Australia, and Indonesia (Sumida and Machida 2000; McCosker 
2010). It is also similar in its body proportions, general physiognomy, and vertebral counts (HEPD speci¬ 
mens 134-137 vs. O. urolophus 134-139), but differa in the location of its dorsal-fm origin (slightly in 
advance of end of pectoral fm in Philippine specimens, slightly beliind end of pectoral fm m extralimital 
O. urolophus specimens). 
Colocongridae 
Coloconger scholesi Chan, 1967 (Fig. 20) 
Material.— CAS 235482 (365 mm SL, DC-1301); HEPD-006, otter trawl in 454-457 m. 
Remarks.— Known from western Indian Ocean and in the western Pacific off Australia and in the South 
China Sea. 
CoNGRiDAE (Conger eels) 
Ariosoma anago (Temminck and Schelgel, 1846) (Fig. 21) 
Material.— CAS 235453 (363 mm SL, DC-1480); HEPD-022, otter trawl in 115-144 m. 
Remarks. — Widely distributed in the western Pacific and eastern Indian Ocean. 
Conger macrocephalus Kanazawa, 1958 (Fig. 22) 
Material.— CAS236635 (785 mm TL, DC-1316) and CAS 236636 (610mm TL, DC-1317); HEPD-008, 
traps in 203-252 m. CAS 2366634 (378 mm TL, DC-1441); HEPD-OI8 , trap in 240-262 m. 
Remarks. — Kanazawa (1958) described Conger macrocephalus (p. 254) and C. philippinus (p. 255) in his 
Conger rcYmon. D. G. Smith (in litt. 2012) questions the difference between these species. The vertebrae 
of our specimens agree with Smith’s (1994: 6) listing in his catalogue of eel type specimens in the USNM. 
Ours have 14-35-134 (DC-1316), 14-36-136 (DC-1317) and 16-38-141 (DC-1441), and the holotype of 
C macrocephalus has 15-36-136, that of C. philippinus has 17-38-132. 
Parabathymyrus brachyrhynchus (Fowler, 1934) (Fig. 23) 
Material.— CAS 235589 (male, 268 mmTL, DC-1532); HEPD-031, beam trawl in 183-188 m. 
Remarks.— This specimen is in excellent condition and its testes are well developed. It has a vertebral for¬ 
mula of 13-52-171, slightly different than those of the holotype (19-55-166) and the paratype (168 total) 
