About Echiophis brunneus Cobos, 1983
Pacific spoon-nose eel, with the scientific name Echiophis brunneus, is commonly called Fangjaw eel in Mexico. It is a species of eel belonging to the family Ophichthidae, also known as worm/snake eels. It was described by José Luis Castro-Aguirre and Sergio Suárez de los Cobos in 1983, and was originally classified under the genus Notophtophis. This is a marine tropical eel that lives in the eastern central and southeastern Pacific Ocean, ranging through the Gulf of California, Mexico, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Colombia, Ecuador, and Panama. It inhabits sand and mud sediments, and can be found at a maximum depth of 10 metres, which is 33 feet. Adult males of this species can grow to a maximum total length of 140 centimetres, or 55 inches, and more typically reach a total length of 60 centimetres, or 24 inches. Because of the species' wide distribution, no known major threats, and no recorded population decline, the IUCN Red List currently categorizes the Pacific spoon-nose eel as Least Concern. It is sometimes caught as bycatch by trawlers, and is usually discarded after capture.
