Saccopharynx is a genus of deep-sea eels with large mouths, distensible stomachs and long, scaleless bodies. Commonly, these fish are called gulpers or gulper eels. It is the only genus in the family Saccopharyngidae, and is part of the derived lineage of the "saccopharyngiforms," which includes other mid-water eel species. The name is from Latin saccus meaning "sack" and Greek φάρυγξ, pharynx.
GENUS
via GBIF
via Wikidata · CC0
Saccopharynx is a genus of deep-sea eels with large mouths, distensible stomachs and long, scaleless bodies. Commonly, these fish are called gulpers or gulper eels. It is the only genus in the family Saccopharyngidae, and is part of the derived lineage of the "saccopharyngiforms," which includes other mid-water eel species. The name is from Latin saccus meaning "sack" and Greek φάρυγξ, pharynx.
They are generally black in color and can grow to lengths of 2 m (6.5 feet). They have been found at depths of , and are known to inhabit the eastern and western Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf Stream. Their tails are tipped by a luminous, bulb-shaped organ. The exact purpose of this organ is unknown, although it is most likely used as a lure, similar to the esca of anglerfish. Unlike pelican eels (Eurypharyngidae), gulper eel diets are largely thought to consist of fish; a specimen of Saccopharynx lavenbergi was recovered with the digested skull bones of an Oneirodes anglerfish.
Discovered by embedding cosine similarity (sentence-transformers MiniLM, 384-dim).