Unknown eel

[M.Dandaneau]

Sorry to bother you, but we have an eel that we captured in the Gulf of Mexico, near Tampa Florida, in May of this year at about 8" in length.

He's now grown to about 20" and is quite heavy bodied with a continuous dorsal fin originating behind the head and an anal fin that runs the rear 1/3 of his length, with a bare, tough tail tip that keeps the two from being continuous, making us suspect that it's a species of snake eel, while information on Conger species available doesn't completely rule this out either.

As seen in the first photo, he has tubular nostrils and fair sized pectoral fins.

Thanking you in advance,

Mike

[M.Dandaneau]

Here's a 2nd photo, showing much of the fish...as you can imagine, it's rather difficult to get a photo of the entire animal at his present size.

Mike

[hcs3]

hello M.Dandaneau,

i don't actually see a question from your above posts, but i suspect you are looking for a more accurate identification of this animal.

i can't say i have ever seen one before. generally i stick with reef safe fish, and by looking at your photos it is obvious your fish is not reef safe a quick look through my available resource guides shows that you are likely looking in the right direction with a conger eel, though you may want to also consider the snake eel. sorry i can't be of more help.

perhaps you would benefit by talking with a local bait shop or fishing/scuba club. many times i have found them to be helpful in regards to the local area habitat and species.

HTH

henry

[M.Dandaneau]

Thanks for the honesty, and my apologies for not making the question clearer, but, as you deduced, I was looking for a better ID assist....we have many books, both traditional and scuba diver's ID guides, but so far all have been of almost no assistance, with very little useful information.

Surprisingly, this guy IS pretty well reef safe, as there are several 1/2" gobies and blennies, along with more traditional aquarium fish...chromis, tangs, etc.

Of all the eels I've ever had, this one appears to be the most intelligent by far, actually taking clear and evident pains to avoid biting me when being fed, and is quite happy on a diet of whole shimp and ocassionally, squid.

We also have 3 morays ( two locally caught, one SFE) and a spoon-nosed snake eel, also locally caught.

Thanks,
Mike