First records of two species of snake eels, Aplatophis chauliodus and Ophichthus hyposagmatus (Actinopterygii: Anguilliformes: Ophichthidae), from Mexico

Abstract

We report herewith the presence of two species of rare snake eels, Aplatophis chauliodus Böhlke, 1956 (499 mm in total length [TL]) and Ophichthus hyposagmatus McCosker et Böhlke, 1984 (486 mm TL), in Mexican waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Both species were caught using bottom longline at a depth of 50 to 100 m in sandy bottoms in Veracruz, Mexico. Both records are the first for Mexico and the westernmost in the Gulf of Mexico.