sooty eel
Bascanichthys bascanium (Jordan, 1884)
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.
Bascanichthys bascanium
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Open encyclopedia reference
The sooty eel (Bascanichthys bascanium) is an eel in the family Ophichthidae (worm/snake eels). It was described by David Starr Jordan in 1884, originally under the genus Caecula. It is a marine, subtropical eel which is known from the western Atlantic Ocean, including North Carolina and Florida, USA, and the Gulf of Mexico. It dwells at a depth range of 0 to 27 metres (0 to 89 ft). Males can reach a maximum total length of 70 centimetres (2.3 ft).
The sooty eel is preyed on by the Atlantic tripletail.
Wikipedia contributors, Sooty eel; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T02:49:10.443701+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Bascanichthys bascanium (Jordan, 1884)
- Name authority
- (Jordan, 1884)
- Common name
- sooty eel
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Anguilliformes
- Family
- Ophichthidae
- Genus
- Bascanichthys
- 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
- subfamilyOphichthinae Günther, 1870
- genusBascanichthys Jordan & Davis, 1891
- speciesBascanichthys bascanium (Jordan, 1884)
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Bascanichthys. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| sooty sand eelBascanichthys bascanoides Osburn & Nichols, 1916 | OphichthidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Bascanichthys deraniyagalai Menon, 1961 | OphichthidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Bascanichthys myersi (Herre, 1932) | OphichthidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Bascanichthys inopinatus McCosker, Böhlke & Böhlke, 1989 | OphichthidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Bascanichthys ceciliae Blache & Cadenat, 1971 | OphichthidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Bascanichthys fijiensis (Seale, 1935) | OphichthidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Bascanichthys cylindricus Meek & Hildebrand, 1923 | OphichthidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Bascanichthys gaira Moreno, Acero P. & Grijalba-Bendeck, 2016 | OphichthidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Bascanichthys filaria (Günther, 1872) | OphichthidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Bascanichthys longipinnis (Kner & Steindachner, 1867) | OphichthidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| whip eelBascanichthys scuticaris (Goode & Bean, 1880) | OphichthidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Bascanichthys paulensis Storey, 1939 | OphichthidaeChordata | 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 |
|---|---|
| Leptocephalus gilberti Eigenmann & Kennedy, 1902 Eigenmann & Kennedy, 1902 | synonym |
| Caecula bascanium Jordan, 1884 Jordan, 1884 | 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=158600 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:68DCC. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.