Longneck eels or neck eels are a family, Derichthyidae, of

eel Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

s. They are

pelagic fish Pelagic fish live in the pelagic zone of ocean or lake waters—being neither close to the bottom nor near the shore—in contrast with demersal fish that do live on or near the bottom, and reef fish that are associated with coral reef ...

es, found in the middle and depths of most oceans. The name comes from

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

''deres'' meaning "neck" and ''ichthys'' meaning "fish". They are distinguished by the presence of a series stripes on the head that form part of the sensory system, but otherwise the two genera of the family are quite different in appearance. ''Derichthys'' has a narrow neck and large eyes, while ''Nessorhamphus has a long, flattened, snout. They grow to about in length.

Species

The three species in two genera are: * Genus '' Derichthys'' (one species) * Genus '' Nessorhamphus'' (two species) In some classifications (for example, ''Systema Naturae'' 2000), this family is split in two, with Derichthyidae containing only the genus ''Derichthys'', and ''Nessorhamphus'' being assigned its own family, Nessorhamphidae.

References

Fish of the Atlantic Ocean Fish of the Pacific Ocean Fish of the Indian Ocean {{anguilliformes-stub