Samoa sawtooth eel

Taxobox
name = Samoa sawtooth eel


image_caption = Drawing by Dr Tony Ayling
regnum = Animalia
phylum = Chordata
classis = Actinopterygii
ordo = Anguilliformes
familia = Serrivomeridae
genus = "Serrivomer"
species = "S. samoensis"
binomial = "Serrivomer samoensis"
binomial_authority = Bauchot, 1959

The Samoa sawtooth eel, "Serrivomer samoensis", is a sawtooth eel of the genus "Serrivomer", found in the south west Pacific at depths between 500 and 2,000 m. Their length is up to 75 cm. The Samoa sawtooth eel is snake-like but very thin with a maximum depth of only 1.5 centimetres. The jaws are thin and extend forward to a fine point with a saw-like row of large vomerine teeth on the roof of the mouth that are used to grip small prey animals.

Young specimens are silvery, and become silvery-black as they increase in size.

Samoa sawtooth eels live in the unlit mid oceanic depths and very little is known about them. Specimens trawled are usually badly damaged, due to their delicate structure.

References

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* Tony Ayling & Geoffrey Cox, "Collins Guide to the Sea Fishes of New Zealand", (William Collins Publishers Ltd, Auckland, New Zealand 1982) ISBN 0-00-216987-8