Neenchelys similis Ho, McCosker & Smith, 2015

Ho, Hsuan-Ching, Hibino, Yusuke & Huang, Jian-Fu, 2018, Note on rare snake eels (Anguilliformes: Ophichthidae) and additional data on three Neenchelys recently described from Taiwan, Zootaxa 4454 (1), pp. 200-214 : 212-213

Neenchelys similis Ho, McCosker & Smith, 2015

Figure 7 ; Table 3

Neenchelys similis Ho, McCosker & Smith, 2015a:50 (type locality: Daxi Fishing Port, Ilan, NE Taiwan). Ho & Loh, 2015:54. Ho et al., 2015b:8. Ho et al., 2015c:170. Hibino et al., 2015:60.

Specimen examined. The type series listed in Ho et al. (2015). Non-type. NMMB-P 27883 , 409 mm TL, off Donggang fishing port, Pingtung, bottom trawl, 6 Dec. 2017.

Diagnosis. A species of Neenchelys with the following combination of characters: body extremely elongate and slightly compressed, its depth 2.6¯5.0 times in HL, 43¯ 69 in TL; dorsal fin origin at anterior 1/3 of trunk, 1.0¯1.3 times in HL behind gill opening; predorsal length 6.8¯ 7.7 in TL; head relatively short, 13.9 ¯ 16.3 in TL; trunk 4.6¯5.0 in TL; tail extremely long, 1.4 in TL; pectoral fin well developed, longer than snout. Total vertebrae 260¯265; MVF 34-68-262. Cephalic lateral line pores 15¯16; predorsal pores 35¯37; preanal pores 70¯71.

Remarks. The original description was based on the holotype collected from northeastern Taiwan, 3 paratypes collected from Japan, and 11 non-types from Papua New Guinea and the Banda Sea.

Our specimen is smaller than the type series and some differences are observed: the head is longer (7.2%, vs. 6.1¯6.6%TL), the trunk is smaller (19.9%, vs, 20.7¯21.8% TL); the eye is larger (7.3%, vs. 4.9¯5.9% HL); the postorbital length is smaller (75.3%, vs. 77.2¯81.9% HL); the both depth and width are smaller (depth 20.0%, vs. 29.7¯34.9% HL; width 22.4%, 32.9¯35.4% HL). It is common that smaller specimens of Neenchelys tend to have a narrower body and slightly longer head. Thus, these differences are attributed to growth ( Tashiro et al., 2016). Other values and meristics agree well with the original description. The number of lateral-line pores were not provided in the original description due to the condition of the specimen, we counted 191 (right side) and 196 (left side) in the newly collected specimen, the last pore runs to about 4 head lengths before the caudal fin, which is much more anterior than its congeners.

Figures

FIGURE 7. Neenchelys similis Ho, McCosker & Smith, 2015. NMMB-P27883, 409 mm TL. A. lateral view. B. close view of head.