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Thin snake eel
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Anguilliformes
Family:	Ophichthidae
Genus:	Ophichthus
Species:	O. apachus
Binomial name
Ophichthus apachus J. E. McCosker & Rosenblatt, 1998

The thin snake eel (Ophichthus apachus) is an eel in the family Ophichthidae. It was described by John E. McCosker and Richard Heinrich Rosenblatt in 1998. It is a marine, tropical eel known from the eastern central and southeastern Pacific Ocean, including Mexico and Colombia. It is known from two specimens observed dwelling in sand at a depth range of 0 to 8 m (0 to 26 ft). The maximum length recorded was 23.1 cm (9.1 in), albeit on an immature specimen.

The species epithet apachus, meaning "without thickness" in Greek, refers to the eel's thin frame. Due to the extremely minimal number of known specimens, and insufficient statistical data derived from them, the IUCN Redlist currently lists the thin snake eel as Data Deficient.

References

1. Common names of Ophichthus apachus at www.fishbase.org.
2. ^ Ophichthus apachus at www.fishbase.org.
3. McCosker, J. E. and R. H. Rosenblatt, 1998 (18 Dec.) A revision of the eastern Pacific snake-eel genus Ophichthus (Anguilliformes: Ophichthidae) with the description of six new species. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences v. 50 (no. 19): 397-432.
4. ^ Ophichthus apachus at the IUCN redlist.

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• Taxa named by John E. McCosker
• Taxa named by Richard Heinrich Rosenblatt
• Fish described in 1998
• Ophichthus
• Fish of the Pacific Ocean
• Ophichthidae stubs