Pelican eel

Open encyclopedia reference

The pelican eel (Eurypharynx pelecanoides) is a deep-sea eel. It is the only known member of the genus Eurypharynx and the family Eurypharyngidae. The species belongs to the "saccopharyngiforms", members of which were historically placed in their own order, but are now considered true eels in the order Anguilliformes. The pelican eel has been described by many synonyms, yet nobody has been able to demonstrate that more than one species of pelican eel exists. It is also referred to as the gulper eel (which can also refer to members of the related genus Saccopharynx), pelican gulper, and umbrella-mouth gulper. The specific epithet pelecanoides refers to the pelican, as the fish's large mouth is reminiscent of that of the pelican.

Wikipedia contributors, Pelican eel; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T02:54:29.910334+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.

Identity & source status

Scientific name

Eurypharynx pelecanoides Vaillant, 1882

Name authority

Vaillant, 1882

Common name

Pelican eel

Rank

species

Accepted status

accepted

Kingdom

Animalia

Phylum

Chordata

Class

Teleostei

Order

Anguilliformes

Family

Eurypharyngidae

Genus

Eurypharynx

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.

1. domainEukaryota (Chatton, 1925) Whittaker & Margulis, 1978
2. kingdomAnimalia
3. phylumChordata
4. subphylumVertebrata
5. infraphylumGnathostomata
6. parvphylumOsteichthyes
7. gigaclassActinopterygii
8. superclassActinopteri
9. classTeleostei
10. orderAnguilliformes
11. familyEurypharyngidae Gill, 1883
12. genusEurypharynx Vaillant, 1882
13. speciesEurypharynx pelecanoides Vaillant, 1882

Close classified relatives

No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.

Browse 1 records assigned to Eurypharyngidae.

Names & synonyms

Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.

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.

1. Vaillant, L. L. (1882). Sur un poisson des grandes profondeurs de l’Atlantique, l’Eurypharynx pelecanoides. Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaires Des Séances de l’Académie Des Sciences, v. 95: 1226–1228. [English translation in Annals and Magazine of Natural History (Series 5) v. 11: 1883, 67–69. Also as a separate, pp. 1–3.]. 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. A suitable sourced image remains to be added.

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:3D5WF. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.