Ophisternon
Genus of fishes
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ophisternon is a genus of swamp eels found in fresh and brackish waters in South and Southeast Asia, New Guinea, Australia, Middle America and West Africa.[3] Two species are blind cave-dwellers.[4]
| Ophisternon | |
|---|---|
| |
| Bengal eel (O. bengalense) | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Chordata |
| Class: | Actinopterygii |
| Order: | Synbranchiformes |
| Family: | Synbranchidae |
| Subfamily: | Synbranchinae |
| Genus: | Ophisternon McClelland, 1844 |
| Type species | |
| Ophisternon bengalensis McClelland, 1844[1] | |
| Species | |
|
see text | |
| Synonyms[2] | |
Well-preserved fossil remains of an Ophisternon sp. are known from the early Pleistocene-aged Laguna Formation of the Philippines, representing the oldest known fossil record of this genus.[5]
Species
There are currently seven recognized species in this genus:[3][6]
- Ophisternon aenigmaticum D. E. Rosen & Greenwood, 1976 (Obscure swamp eel)
- Ophisternon afrum (Boulenger, 1909) (Guinea swamp eel)
- Ophisternon bengalense McClelland, 1844 (Bengal eel)
- Ophisternon candidum (Mees, 1962) (Blind cave eel)
- Ophisternon gutturale (J. Richardson, 1845) (Australian swamp eel)
- Ophisternon infernale (C. L. Hubbs, 1938) (Blind swamp eel)
- Ophisternon berlini (J. Arroyave, 2024) (Berlin's bloodworm eel) [6]
