The Mauritanian shortface eel (''Panturichthys mauritanicus'') is an eel in the family

Heterenchelyidae The Heterenchelyidae or mud eels are a small family of eels native to the Atlantic, Mediterranean, and eastern Pacific. Heterenchelyids are bottom-dwelling fish adapted to burrowing into soft mud. They have large mouths and no pectoral fin F ...

(mud eels).''Panturichthys mauritanicus''
at www.fishbase.org. It was described by Jacques Pellegrin in 1913.Pellegrin, J., 1913 ef. 3427See ref. at BHL. ''Poisson des côtes de Mauritanie.'' Mission de M. Gruvel. Bulletin de la Société Zoologique de France v. 38: 116-118. It is a tropical,

marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...

eel which is known from the eastern Atlantic Ocean, where it is distributed from Morocco to

Guinea Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...

(including

Mauritania Mauritania (; ar, موريتانيا, ', french: Mauritanie; Berber: ''Agawej'' or ''Cengit''; Pulaar: ''Moritani''; Wolof: ''Gànnaar''; Soninke:), officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania ( ar, الجمهورية الإسلامية ...

, from which its species epithet and common name are derived). It typically dwells at a depth range of 30–1000 metres, habituating muddy

substrate Substrate may refer to: Physical layers *Substrate (biology), the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the surface or medium on which an organism grows or is attached ** Substrate (locomotion), the surface over which an organism lo ...

s on the African

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 ...

. Males can reach a maximum total length of 84 centimetres. The Mauritanian shortface eel's diet primarily consists of

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 ...

crustaceans,

bivalves Bivalvia (), in previous centuries referred to as the Lamellibranchiata and Pelecypoda, is a class of marine and freshwater molluscs that have laterally compressed bodies enclosed by a shell consisting of two hinged parts. As a group, bival ...

, and annelids.Food items reported for ''Panturichthys mauritanicus''
at www.fishbase.org.

References

Heterenchelyidae Taxa named by Jacques Pellegrin Fish described in 1913 {{Anguilliformes-stub