Puneet Varma (Editor)

Pacific worm eel

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Kingdom
  
Animalia

Class
  
Actinopterygii

Family
  
Ophichthidae

Rank
  
Species

Phylum
  
Chordata

Order
  
Anguilliformes

Genus
  
Myrophis

People also search for
  
Eel, Myrophis, Smallfin worm-eel

The Pacific worm eel (Myrophis vafer, also known commonly as the worm eel in the United Kingdom) is an eel in the family Ophichthidae (worm/snake eels). It was described by David Starr Jordan and Charles Henry Gilbert in 1883. It is a marine, subtropical eel which is known from the eastern central and southeastern Pacific Ocean, including California, USA, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Guatemala, Panama, Nicaragua, and Peru. It dwells at a depth range of 1 to 12 metres (3.3 to 39.4 ft), and inhabits sand and mud sediments. Unlike many species of eel, it does not form burrows. Males can reach a maximum total length of 46 centimetres (18 in).

Young Pacific worm eels are drawn to lights at the sea's surface. Due to its wide distribution, lack of known major threats and lack of observed population decline, the IUCN redlist currently lists the species as Least Concern.

References

Pacific worm eel Wikipedia