New Zealand longfin eel
Anguilla dieffenbachii Gray, 1842
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.
New Zealand longfin eel (Anguilla dieffenbachii), river behind Piha Beach, North Island, New Zealand
Charles J. Sharp · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Image sourceProvider-generated thumbnail requested at 800 pixels; no local editing Local WebP display rendition; resized without cropping.
Open encyclopedia reference
The New Zealand longfin eel (Anguilla dieffenbachii) is a species of freshwater eel that is endemic to New Zealand. It is the largest freshwater eel in New Zealand and the only endemic species – the other eels found in New Zealand are the native shortfin eel (Anguilla australis), also found in Australia, and the naturally introduced Australian longfin eel (Anguilla reinhardtii). Longfin eels are long-lived, migrating to an unknown site in the tropical Pacific Ocean to breed at the end of their lives. They are good climbers as juveniles and so are found in streams and lakes a long way inland. An important traditional food source for Māori (who name them ōrea), longfin eel numbers are declining and they are classified as endangered, but over one hundred tonnes are still commercially fished each year.
Wikipedia contributors, New Zealand longfin eel; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T12:38:17.437597+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Anguilla dieffenbachii Gray, 1842
- Name authority
- Gray, 1842
- Common name
- New Zealand longfin eel
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Anguilliformes
- Family
- Anguillidae
- Genus
- Anguilla
- Extinction status
- Not supplied by this source
Source habitat flags: Marine: yes · Freshwater: yes · 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
- familyAnguillidae Rafinesque, 1810
- genusAnguilla Schrank, 1798
- speciesAnguilla dieffenbachii Gray, 1842
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Anguilla. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Anguilla celebesensis Kaup, 1856 | AnguillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Anguilla labiata (Peters, 1852) | AnguillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Anguilla obscura Günther, 1872 | AnguillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Anguilla luzonensis Watanabe, Aoyama & Tsukamoto, 2009 | AnguillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Anguilla bicolor McClelland, 1844 | AnguillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Anguilla malgumora Kaup, 1856 | AnguillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Anguilla borneensis Popta, 1924 | AnguillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Japanese eelAnguilla japonica Temminck & Schlegel, 1846 | AnguillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| European eelAnguilla anguilla (Linnaeus, 1758) | AnguillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Anguilla reinhardtii Steindachner, 1867 | AnguillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Anguilla interioris Whitley, 1938 | AnguillidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| giant mottled eelAnguilla marmorata Quoy & Gaimard, 1824 | AnguillidaeChordata | 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 |
|---|---|
| Anguilla dieffenbachi Gray, 1842 Gray, 1842 | 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.
- Gray, J. E. (1842). Three hitherto unrecorded species of fresh-water fish, brought from New Zealand and presented to the British Museum by Dr. Dieffenbach. Zoological Miscellany, [No. 1]: 73. 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:6736Z. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.