conehead eel
Cynoponticus coniceps (Jordan & Gilbert, 1882)
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
Cynoponticus coniceps, the red pike conger or conehead eel, is an eel in the family Muraenesocidae (pike congers). It was described by David Starr Jordan and Charles Henry Gilbert in 1882, originally under the genus Muraenesox. It is a marine, tropical eel which is known from the eastern central and southeastern Pacific Ocean, including Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Panama, Peru, and Nicaragua. It dwells at a depth range of 10 to 100 metres (33 to 328 ft), and inhabits sediments of sand and mud. Males can reach a maximum total length of 202 centimetres (80 in); the maximum recorded weight is 11.0 kilograms (24.3 lb).
The red pike conger's diet consists of finfish and invertebrates. It is of commercial interest to fisheries, and is considered to have high quality flesh. It is also captured as a by-catch by shrimp trawlers.
The IUCN redlist currently lists Cynoponticus coniceps as Data Deficient, due to a lack of information on how the species is affected by fishing activities.
Wikipedia contributors, Cynoponticus coniceps; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T02:57:01.869743+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Cynoponticus coniceps (Jordan & Gilbert, 1882)
- Name authority
- (Jordan & Gilbert, 1882)
- Common name
- conehead eel
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Anguilliformes
- Family
- Muraenesocidae
- Genus
- Cynoponticus
- 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
- familyMuraenesocidae Kaup, 1859
- genusCynoponticus Costa, 1845
- speciesCynoponticus coniceps (Jordan & Gilbert, 1882)
Close classified relatives
No other member of this genus is present in the selected snapshot.
Names & synonyms
Names explicitly linked to this accepted taxon in the source. Synonymy can change with revision.
| Recorded name | Source status |
|---|---|
| Muraenesox coniceps Jordan & Gilbert, 1882 Jordan & Gilbert, 1882 | 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=271797 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:6BVWZ. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.