Dana duckbill eel
Nessorhamphus danae Schmidt, 1931
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
Nessorhamphus danae, the blackbelly spoonbill eel or Dana duckbill eel, is an eel in the family Derichthyidae (longneck eels). It was described by Johannes Schmidt in 1931. It is a marine, deep water-dwelling eel which is known from throughout the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans, including Australia, Brazil, Benin, Bangladesh, Cameroon, Cambodia, China, Ghana, Pakistan, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea, India, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Indonesia, Liberia, Malaysia, Kenya, Mauritania, Myanmar, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Senegal, Sierra Leone, the Philippines, Somalia, South Africa, Tanzania, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Togo, the Hawaiian Islands, USA; Yemen, and Vietnam. Males can reach a maximum total length of 30 centimetres (12 in).
Due to the widespread distribution of Nessorhamphus danae, as well as its deep-water nature and the subsequent perceived lack of threats, the IUCN redlist currently lists the species as Least Concern.
Wikipedia contributors, Nessorhamphus danae; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:11:24.037977+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Nessorhamphus danae Schmidt, 1931
- Name authority
- Schmidt, 1931
- Common name
- Dana duckbill eel
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Anguilliformes
- Family
- Derichthyidae
- Genus
- Nessorhamphus
- 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
- familyDerichthyidae Gill, 1884
- genusNessorhamphus Schmidt, 1931
- speciesNessorhamphus danae Schmidt, 1931
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Nessorhamphus. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| duckbill oceanic eelNessorhamphus ingolfianus (Schmidt, 1912) | DerichthyidaeChordata | 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.
- Schmidt, E. J. (1931). Oceanographic expedition of the Dana, 1928-1930. Nature (London), v. 127 (nos. 3203, 3204): 444–446, 487–490. 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:478SL. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.