shortbelly eel
Dysomma anguillare Barnard, 1923
Accepted species in Catalogue of Life’s 11 September 2026 base release. This preserves the source classification and available supporting data; it is not a completed species monograph.
Shortbelly eel or blind arrowtooth eel ( Dysomma anguillare )
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Open encyclopedia reference
Dysomma anguillare, the shortbelly eel, stout moray, mustard eel or arrowtooth eel, is an eel in the family Synaphobranchidae (cutthroat eels). It was described by Keppel Harcourt Barnard in 1923. It is a marine, tropical eel which is known from the western Atlantic Ocean and Indo-Western Pacific, including the United States, Venezuela, South Africa, Zanzibar, and Japan. It lives at a depth range of 30 to 270 metres (98 to 886 ft), and inhabits muddy sediments in coastal waters and large rivermouths. Males can reach a maximum total length of 52 centimetres (20 in).
The shortbelly eel is of no commercial interest to fisheries.
Wikipedia contributors, Dysomma anguillare; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T04:18:28.397315+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Dysomma anguillare Barnard, 1923
- Name authority
- Barnard, 1923
- Common name
- shortbelly eel
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Anguilliformes
- Family
- Synaphobranchidae
- Genus
- Dysomma
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: no · Terrestrial: no. These do not form a complete habitat description.
Classification family tree
Nested taxonomic groups from the source. This is not a direct-ancestor chain, a dated evolutionary tree or a phylogenetic reconstruction.
- domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
- kingdomAnimalia
- phylumChordata
- subphylumVertebrata
- infraphylumGnathostomata
- parvphylumOsteichthyes
- gigaclassActinopterygii
- superclassActinopteri
- classTeleostei
- orderAnguilliformes
- familySynaphobranchidae Johnson, 1862
- subfamilyIlyophinae Jordan & Davis, 1891
- genusDysomma Alcock, 1889
- speciesDysomma anguillare Barnard, 1923
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Dysomma. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Dysomma brevirostre (Facciolà, 1887) | SynaphobranchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Dysomma fuscoventralis Karrer & Klausewitz, 1982 | SynaphobranchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Dysomma longirostrum Chen & Mok, 2001 | SynaphobranchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Dysomma melanurum Chen & Weng, 1967 | SynaphobranchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Dysomma muciparus (Alcock, 1891) | SynaphobranchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Dysomma opisthoproctus Chen & Mok, 1995 | SynaphobranchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Dysomma achiropteryx Prokofiev, 2019 | SynaphobranchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Dysomma bussarawiti Prokofiev, 2019 | SynaphobranchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Dysomma robinsorum Ho & Tighe, 2018 | SynaphobranchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Dysomma alticorpus Fricke, Golani, Appelbaum-Golani & Zajonz, 2018 | SynaphobranchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Dysomma dolichosomatum Karrer, 1983 | SynaphobranchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Dysomma goslinei Robins & Robins, 1976 | SynaphobranchidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Dysomma angustum (Lin, 1933) (Lin, 1933) | synonym |
| Dysomma zanzibarensis Norman, 1939 Norman, 1939 | synonym |
| Sinomyrus angustus Lin, 1933 Lin, 1933 | synonym |
| Dysomma aphododera Ginsburg, 1951 Ginsburg, 1951 | synonym |
| Dysomma japonicus Matsubara, 1936 Matsubara, 1936 | synonym |
| Dysomma anguillaris Barnard, 1923 Barnard, 1923 | synonym |
Source literature & publication evidence
References attached to this source record, including nomenclatural citations where supplied. This is a selected bibliography; abbreviated citations remain in the source’s form.
- Barnard, K. H. (1923). Diagnoses of new species of marine fishes from South African waters. Annals of the South African Museum, 13 (pt 8, no. 14): 439–445. Source fields: Taxon.tsv dwc:namePublishedIn, Taxon.tsv dcterms:references
Origins, evidence & remaining research
Name authority and publication references document nomenclature where the source supplies it. They do not establish evolutionary origins or the earliest fossil occurrence.
Specimen-level evidence, morphology, ecological research, phylogenetic studies, a comprehensive bibliography and a located literary passage have not yet been compiled for this record.
Dataset citation & attribution
This exact taxon in ChecklistBank · Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11
Catalogue of Life 2026-09-11; dataset 316321; doi:10.48580/dgz5n. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ . Retrieved 5 October 2026.
Stable key: col:389Z9. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.