Apterichtus ansp ( Böhlke 1968 ), Bohlke, 1968

Hibino, Yusuke, 2015, A review of the finless snake eels of the genus Apterichtus (Anguilliformes: Ophichthidae), with the description of five new species, Zootaxa 3941 (1), pp. 49-78 : 54

Apterichtus ansp ( Böhlke 1968)

Table 1

Verma ansp Böhlke 1968:3 , Fig. 1 (type locality Nassau, Bahamas, holotype ANSP 98366). Apterichtus ansp: McCosker 1977:66 .

Diagnosis. An elongate species with: tail 1.7–1.8, head 12–15, and body depth 43–53 in total length; 4 preopercular pores and 5 pores in supratemporal canal; teeth conical, uniserial on jaws and vomer; 3–4 vomerine teeth; body coloration nearly uniform pale to tan, fresh specimens have a fine sprinkling of melanophores over the dorsal surface of the head and body, with pale areas behind eye and along lower jaw; and MVF 54–128, total vertebrae 123–132 (n=25).

Size. The largest specimen examined is 415 mm, sex unknown, from Cooper’s Island, Bermuda.

Distribution. Known from United States from the Carolinas to the Florida Keys, Bermuda, the Bahamas, the Lesser Antilles, and off Brazil, from the shoreline to 38 m depth.

Remarks. This treatment is primarily taken from McCosker et al. (1989:319–321). Leiby (1982) described and illustrated the leptocephalus of A. ansp . This species is most similar to A. gracilis from the eastern Atlantic, which differs in its posterior nostril condition ( Blache and Bauchot, 1972:714–717).

Material examined. 41 specimens, 58–415 mm TL, including the holotype ( ANSP 98366, 222.5 mm TL). Those specimens are listed in McCosker et al. (1989:320–321).

Figures

FIGURE 1. Underwater photograph of living Apterichtus hatookai, taken by J. Shibata at 7 m at Shikohu Island, Japan. Courtesy of Ichthyological Society of Japan