Find a Fish
Snipe Eel
Family Nemichthyidae
A Slender Snipe eel, Nemichthys scolopaceus from the Australian Museum Fish Collection. The dried fish in the upper and lower images was sent to the Museum for identification by Greg Fardy, District Fisheries Officer Coffs Harbour, NSW Fisheries.
The fish is 1.18 m in length (head length = 5 cm). It is a type of Snipe Eel, (family Nemichthyidae) and is recognisable by its extremely elongate body and long, thin, outward curving jaws. It is not possible to identify to species because it is in such poor condition. It is now registered in the Australian Museum Fish Collection as AMS I.38889-001.
You may wonder how a fish like this would feed. If its jaws don't meet, how can it capture prey? The clue to the feeding of Snipe Eels is found in their teeth. They have tiny backward-pointing teeth along both jaws. A Snipe Eel swims through deep ocean waters with its mouth open. When an antenna (feeler) of a crustacean enters the open jaws, it is caught on the teeth and the crustacean is "pulled" ratchet-fashion into the mouth of the snipe eel.
The Snipe Eels such as Nemichthys scolopaceus (above), can grow up to 1.22 m in length and are found in the deep midwaters, i.e. swimming in the open water, not near the surface or the bottom. Snipe Eels have been recorded in depths down to 1830 m. Three species of Snipe Eels occur off the New South Wales coast.
Further reading
- Mead, G. & S. Eyrle. 1970. Notes on the Natural History of Snipe Eels. Proc Calif. Acad. Sci. 38:99-103.
- Nielsen, J. & D.G. Smith. 1978. The eel family Nemichthyidae (Pisces, Anguilliformes). Dana Rept. 88: 1-71, figs 1-36, pls 1-2.
- See also Snipe Eel sighting in Shallow Water page.
