''Apterichtus caecus'', the European finless eel, is a species of

snake eel Ophichthidae is a family of fish in the order Anguilliformes, commonly known as the snake eels. The term "Ophichthidae" comes from Greek ''ophis'' ("serpent") and ''ichthys'' ("fish"). Snake eels are also burrowing eels. They are named for their ...

native to the eastern Atlantic Ocean, from the Azores to the Gulf of Guinea, and into the western Mediterranean including the

Balearic Islands The Balearic Islands ( es, Islas Baleares ; or ca, Illes Balears ) are an archipelago in the Balearic Sea, near the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. The archipelago is an autonomous community and a province of Spain; its capital is ...

. It can be found on the

continental shelf A continental shelf is a portion of a continent that is submerged under an area of relatively shallow water, known as a shelf sea. Much of these shelves were exposed by drops in sea level during glacial periods. The shelf surrounding an island ...

at depths of from living in burrows in mud or sand. It preys on other fishes as well as

benthic The benthic zone is the ecological region at the lowest level of a body of water such as an ocean, lake, or stream, including the sediment surface and some sub-surface layers. The name comes from ancient Greek, βένθος (bénthos), meaning "t ...

invertebrates. Spawning for this species in the Mediterranean has been recorded in the early summer months of May and June. This species can reach a length of TL.

References

caecus Fish described in 1758 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Ophichthidae-stub