Editorial Type:
Article Category: Research Article
 | 
Online Publication Date: 01 Aug 2002

Ophichthys melanochir Bleeker, 1865, A Junior Synonym of the Highfin Snake Eel Ophichthus altipennis (Kaup, 1856)

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Page Range: 798 – 799
DOI: 10.1643/0045-8511(2002)002[0798:OMBAJS]2.0.CO;2
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Abstract

We present evidence that a shallow water Indo-Pacific snake eel, occasionally seen and photographed but not recognized by divers, is Ophichthus altipennis (Kaup, 1856) and propose that Ophichthys melanochir Bleeker, 1865 is its junior synonym. Its variable coloration is described and illustrated.

Copyright: The American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists
 Fig. 1. 
 Fig. 1. 

Head of Ophichthus altipennis protruding from the sand bottom at night, 15 m depth, Lembeh Strait, northeast Sulawesi, Indonesia

 Fig. 2. 
 Fig. 2. 

Adult Ophichthus altipennis, swimming above the sand bottom at night at 10 m depth, Lembeh Strait, northeast Sulawesi, Indonesia

 Fig. 3. 
 Fig. 3. 

Adult Ophichthus altipennis (as seen swimming in Fig. 2), BPBM 37089, 1032 mm TL, from Lembeh Strait, northeast Sulawesi, Indonesia

Received: 31 Dec 2001
Accepted: 08 Mar 2002
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