Main identification features
- large, humped head; top snout concave
- eye low
- grey-brown, dorsal fin and a: black edges
- mouth oblique; teeth large, exposed
Body and head stout, cylindrical; tail compressed at rear; head long and fat, with a hump over and behind the eye; snout narrow, with concave upper profile, short; mouth oblique; jaws elongate, the lower one a little longer and slightly projecting; front nostril in a small barbel on the top lip before the eye, rear nostril opens in a hole in the top lip under the front edge of the eye; eye small, low on head, with rear edge at the middle of the mouth; tongue with appendages, developed as a fleshy lure; gill opening vertical, elongate, low on side; teeth elongate, conical, but not curved, front teeth developed as large fangs extending outside mouth when closed; dorsal fin origin well behind pectoral tips; tail tip blunt, finless; pectoral fins small, rounded, with narrow base, inserted behind the top corner of the gill opening.
Body and head grey-brown, paler on lower 1/3; eye grey; pectoral fin a little darker than body; dorsal fin same color as body, with thin black margin; anal fin same color as lower body with outer 1/3 black; tip of tail pale; lateral line pores on body not in pale spots; pores around mouth and on side of head above and before gill opening in small pale spots; lines of white dots on side and top of the head, which form the letter U across the top of the head (as viewed from above) and a zigzag on the side of the head (which forms the letter Z on the right side).
Size: 104 cm.
Habitat: mud bottom in estuary. Known from a single specimen collected by a shrimp trawler.
Depth: 5-10 m.
The mouth of the Golfo de San Miguel in eastern Panama.
Attributes
Abundance: Common.
Cites: Not listed.
Climate Zone: Equatorial (Costa Rica to Ecuador + Galapagos, Clipperton, Cocos, Malpelo).
Depth Range Max: 10 m.
Depth Range Min: 5 m.
Diet: bony fishes.
Eastern Pacific Range: Northern limit=9; Southern limit=9; Western limit=-79; Eastern limit=-79; Latitudinal range=1; Longitudinal range=1.
Egg Type: Pelagic; Pelagic larva.
Feeding Group: Carnivore.
FishBase Habitat: Demersal.
Global Endemism: Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP) endemic; East Pacific endemic; All species.
Habitat: Estuary; Mud; Soft bottom (mud, sand,gravel, beach, estuary & mangrove); Soft bottom only; Sand & gravel.
Inshore Offshore: Inshore; Inshore Only.
IUCN Red List: Not evaluated / Listed.
Length Max: 104 cm.
Regional Endemism: Continent only; Continent; TEP endemic; Continental TEP endemic; Panamic province endemic; All species.
Residency: Resident.
Salinity: Marine; Marine Only.
Water Column Position: Bottom; Bottom only;
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- McCosker , J. E. and Robertson, D. R., 2001., Aplatophis zorro, a new species of eastern Pacific snake-eel, with comments on New World ophichthid distributions (Anguilliformes: Ophichthidae)., Revista de Biologia Tropical, 49(Supplement 1):13-19.
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