twostripe snake eel
Callechelys bilinearis Kanazawa, 1952
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
Callechelys bilinearis, the twostripe snake eel, is an eel in the family Ophichthidae (worm and snake eels). It was described by Robert H. Kanazawa in 1952. It is a marine, tropical eel which is known from the western and southeastern Atlantic Ocean, including Bermuda, the West Indies, Lesser Antilles, St. Helena Island and Ascension Island. It dwells at a depth range of 0 to 22 metres (0 to 72 ft), most often at around 0 to 5 metres (0 to 16 ft). Males can reach a maximum total length of 172.4 centimetres (67.9 in).
The species epithet "bilinearis", treated as an adjective, means "two-lined" in Latin, and refers to the pair of stripes along the length of the eel's body.
Wikipedia contributors, Callechelys bilinearis; see linked history · CC BY-SA 4.0 . Plain-text lead excerpt, at most 180 words; no infobox or later sections Retrieved 2026-10-05T08:32:48.358882+00:00. This reference remains separate from the taxonomic record.
Identity & source status
- Scientific name
- Callechelys bilinearis Kanazawa, 1952
- Name authority
- Kanazawa, 1952
- Common name
- twostripe snake eel
- Rank
- species
- Accepted status
- accepted
- Kingdom
- Animalia
- Phylum
- Chordata
- Class
- Teleostei
- Order
- Anguilliformes
- Family
- Ophichthidae
- Genus
- Callechelys
- 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
- genusCallechelys Kaup, 1856
- speciesCallechelys bilinearis Kanazawa, 1952
Close classified relatives
These entries share the source’s genus, Callechelys. They are not necessarily the closest relatives established by molecular evidence.
| Species | Classification | Source status |
|---|---|---|
| Callechelys catostoma (Schneider, 1801) | OphichthidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Callechelys kuro (Kuroda, 1947) | OphichthidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Callechelys bitaeniata (Peters, 1877) | OphichthidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| sandy ridgefin eelCallechelys cliffi Böhlke & Briggs, 1954 | OphichthidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| spotted ridgefin eelCallechelys eristigma McCosker & Rosenblatt, 1972 | OphichthidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| marbled snake eelCallechelys marmorata (Bleeker, 1854) | OphichthidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| blotched snake eelCallechelys muraena Jordan & Evermann, 1887 | OphichthidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| ridgefin eelCallechelys springeri (Ginsburg, 1951) | OphichthidaeChordata | Accepted speciesExtinction status not supplied |
| Callechelys maculatus Chu, Wu & Jin, 1981 | OphichthidaeChordata | 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.
- Kanazawa, R. H. (1952). More new species and new records of fishes from Bermuda. Fieldiana Zoology, 34. 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:PL2Q. Classification follows source parent identifiers. English common names may vary by region.