Family Nemichthyidae

Common names:  slender snipe eels

Distribution:  Worldwide in the mesopelagic and bathypelagic zones.

General description and features:  Very long slender eels with a small head, large eyes and extremely slender jaws that often curve open at their tips.

Feeding:  Most species feed on crustaceans.  Nemicthys is though to use the very fine teeth on its recurved jaws to entangle the antennae of small shrimps and euphausids.

Reproduction and life history: 

Nemichthys scolopaceus taken from the Catalina Basin, California.