Neenchelys buitendijki Weber & de Beaufort, 1916
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.
Open encyclopedia reference
The fintail serpent eel (Neenchelys buitendijki, also known commonly as the spotted worm-eel in India) is an eel in the family Ophichthidae (worm/snake eels). It was described by Max Carl Wilhelm Weber and Lieven Ferdinand de Beaufort in 1916. It is a marine, tropical eel which is known from the Indian Ocean, including Pakistan, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam. It inhabits burrows in soft sediments, and leads a nocturnal lifestyle. Males can reach a maximum total length of 30 centimetres.
The fintail serpent eel is of minor commercial interest to fisheries, and is primarily used for fishing bait.
Wikipedia contributors, Fintail serpent eel; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T23:17:22.265455+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Neenchelys buitendijki Weber & de Beaufort, 1916
- Name authority
- Weber & de Beaufort, 1916
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Anguilliformes
- Family
- Ophichthidae
- Genus
- Neenchelys
- 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
- familyOphichthidae Günther, 1870
- subfamilyMyrophinae Kaup, 1856
- genusNeenchelys Bamber, 1915
- speciesNeenchelys buitendijki Weber & de Beaufort, 1916
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Neenchelys. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Neenchelys cheni (Chen & Weng, 1967) | OphichthidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Neenchelys mccoskeri Hibino, Ho & Kimura, 2012 | OphichthidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Neenchelys microtretus Bamber, 1915 | OphichthidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Neenchelys parvipectoralis Chu, Wu & Jin, 1981 | OphichthidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Neenchelys pelagica Ho, McCosker & Smith, 2015 | OphichthidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Neenchelys similis Ho, McCosker & Smith, 2015 | OphichthidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Neenchelys andamanensis Hibino, Satapoomin & Kimura, 2015 | OphichthidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Neenchelys gracilis Ho & Loh, 2015 | OphichthidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Neenchelys daedalus McCosker, 1982 | OphichthidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
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.
- Weber, M.; de Beaufort L. F. (1916). The fishes of the Indo-Australian Archipelago. III. Ostariophysi: II Cyprinoidea, Apodes, Synbranchi. E. J. Brill, Leiden., v. 3: i–xv + 1–455. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004590434_001 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:464L2. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.