needletail conger
Rhynchoconger nitens (Jordan & Bollman, 1890)
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 bignose conger (Rhynchoconger nitens, also known as the needletail conger) is an eel in the family Congridae (conger/garden eels). It was described by David Starr Jordan and Charles Harvey Bollman in 1890. It is a tropical, marine eel which is known from the eastern central and southeastern Pacific Ocean, including Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, and Peru. It dwells at a depth range of 25–90 metres. Males can reach a maximum total length of 40 centimetres, but more commonly reach a TL of 30 cm.
Due to its widespread distribution, lack of known threats, and lack of observed population decline, the IUCN redlist currently Lists the bignose conger as Least Concern.
Wikipedia contributors, Bignose conger; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T06:43:07.514698+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Rhynchoconger nitens (Jordan & Bollman, 1890)
- Name authority
- (Jordan & Bollman, 1890)
- Common name
- needletail conger
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Anguilliformes
- Family
- Congridae
- Genus
- Rhynchoconger
- 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
- familyCongridae Kaup, 1856
- subfamilyCongrinae Kaup, 1856
- genusRhynchoconger Jordan & Hubbs, 1925
- speciesRhynchoconger nitens (Jordan & Bollman, 1890)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Rhynchoconger. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| yellow congerRhynchoconger flavus (Goode & Bean, 1896) | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Rhynchoconger ectenurus (Jordan & Richardson, 1909) | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Rhynchoconger bicoloratus Kodeeswaran, Mohapatra, Kumar & Lal, 2023 | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Rhynchoconger eocenicus (Shepherd, 1916) | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesRecorded extinct |
| whiptail congerRhynchoconger gracilior (Ginsburg, 1951) | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Rhynchoconger guppyi (Norman, 1925) | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Rhynchoconger squaliceps (Alcock, 1894) | CongridaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Rhynchoconger trewavasae Ben-Tuvia, 1993 | CongridaeChordata | 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 |
|---|---|
| Hildebrandia nitens (Jordan & Bollman, 1890) (Jordan & Bollman, 1890) | synonym |
| Ophisoma nitens Jordan & Bollman, 1890 Jordan & Bollman, 1890 | 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.
- https://www.marinespecies.org/aphia.php?p=taxdetails&id=275426 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:4SRNK. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.