The bandtooth conger (Ariosoma balearicum), also known as the Baleares conger or the Balearic conger,Common names for Ariosoma balaericum at www.fishbase.org. is an eel in the family Congridae (conger/garden eels).Ariosoma balearicum at www.fishbase.org. It was described by François Étienne Delaroche in 1809, originally under the genus Muraena.Delaroche, F. E., 1809 [ref. 17380] Suite du mémoire sur les espèces de poissons observées à Iviça. Observations sur quelques-uns des poissons indiqués dans le précédent tableau et descriptions des espèces nouvelles ou peu connues. Annales du Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris v. 13: 313-361, Pls. 20-25. It is a subtropical, marine eel which is known from the western and eastern Atlantic and the western Indian Ocean, including North Carolina, USA; the northern Gulf of Mexico, northern South America, Canada, Portugal, Angola, the Mediterranean, and the Red Sea. It inhabits reefs and littoral shelves, and burrows into sand and mud. It dwells at a depth range of 1–732 meters, but most frequently between 20–100 m. Males can reach a maximum total length of 35 cm, but more commonly reach a TL of 25 cm The bandtooth conger is of minor interest to fisheries.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
A DNA barcode is a short, standardised stretch of genes that works like a fingerprint — enough to tell one species from another. Below is the molecular trace Ariosoma balearicum has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
DNA specimens49
BINs3
Marker genes2
eDNA detections69
Countries11
The DNA barcodethe species' typical barcode, built from every sequenced specimen
COI-5P655 bp consensus47 specimens
ACGT
▸ drag or hover over the strip to read any position — letter and how much it varies
Violet ticks below the strip = positions where individuals differ; flat = the species' unchanging signature. 96% of positions are identical in every specimen.
Where individuals differ — all 27 variable positions, in barcode order
Each circle is a barcode variant; bigger = more specimens, colour = region. Lines join the most similar variants and the tick marks count the mutations between them — a tight cluster is one “dialect”, a long line a more divergent lineage. Click a circle to list its actual specimens.
Diversity (π)1.4%
Haplotypes6
BINs3
Most divergent pair4.0%
AsiaN.America
Closest relatives by DNA barcode
The species whose COI barcode is most similar to this one — a quick “who is this most like”. The percentage is how much the barcode differs; it approximates, but is not, the full evolutionary tree.
★ the standard DNA barcode for this group — the short region actually read to tell this species apart. The rest are extra genes sequenced along the way.
★COI-5P12S
animal barcodemarker
07Deep time~24.2 Ma lineage
How far back this lineage goes — and how we know. Everything here is measured in Ma, short for “mega-annum”: millions of years ago. The chart reads left to right like a calendar of the Earth, from the deep past on the left to today at the right edgetop to bottom like a core drilled through the Earth, from the deep past at the top down to today at the bottom.
At a glance
DNA clock origin24.2 Ma TimeTree
When this lineage existed
How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard epochs (Pliocene, Pleistocene…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. This lineage is a young one, so the strip is zoomed in to epochs — the finer subdivisions inside a period. The orange marker is the DNA clock: DNA accumulates mutations at a roughly steady rate, so comparing this species' DNA with its relatives estimates when the lineage split off — independently of any fossil.
DNA clock origin
08Occurrence & distribution
Record type3 737 records
Wild obs. + sensor757
Museum / vouchered2 880
Fossil2
Other98
Origin
Native31
Range
Area of Occupancy AOO5 988 km²
Depth
0–200 m sunlit369
200–1000 m twilight169
1–4 km midnight33
>4 km abyssal0
median 90.7 m · max 2 441 m · 571 records with depth
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Coordinate accuracy91% within 1 km
≤100 m 165≤1 km 184≤10 km 25>10 km 9
383 georeferenced · 374 without coordinates
Open the mapobservation + sensor757
Museum / Voucheredphysical evidence
Backed by a physical specimen — a herbarium sheet, sample or voucher held in a collection. “Vouchered” means supported by material evidence, not just an observation.
Coordinate accuracy36% within 1 km
≤100 m 42≤1 km 199≤10 km 96>10 km 340
677 georeferenced · 2 203 without coordinates
Open the institutions mapphysical evidence2 880
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
10Collections & institutions
Holding institutions19 of 40 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
Institution
Specimens
Washington, US
401
South Kensington, GB
320
Cambridge, US
240
Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record
202
North Carolina Museum of Natural Scienceslocation not on record
147
FishBaselocation not on record
104
Zoologisches Museum Hamburglocation not on record
68
Paris, FR
25
University of Texas Biodiversity Collections (UTBC)location not on record
23
New Haven, US
14
University of Alabamalocation not on record
14
Copenhagen, DK
13
Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collectionlocation not on record
11
Stockholm, SE
7
National Natural History Collectionslocation not on record
7
Tapachula, MX
6
The Atlantic reference Centrelocation not on record
6
6
SMNHTAUlocation not on record
5
Bergen, NO
4
Toronto, CA
3
ICATMARlocation not on record
3
Wuzhou, CN
3
Chicago, US
2
Natural History Museum Rotterdamlocation not on record
2
Turkmen Agricultural University named after S.A. Niyazovlocation not on record
2
Israel Oceanographic & Limnological Research, Ltd. The National Institute of Oceanographylocation not on record
2
Ann Arbor, US
2
South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversitylocation not on record
2
Museo civico La Terra e l'Uomo di Crocetta del Montellolocation not on record
1
Mexico City, MX
1
Helsinki, FI
1
Barcelona, ES
1
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Fish and Wildlife Research Institutelocation not on record
1
Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciêncialocation not on record
1
University of California San Diegolocation not on record
1
Montgomery, US
1
Frankfurt am Main
1
IEO-COMA-CSIClocation not on record
1
CASlocation not on record
1
40 institutions · 1 655 of 2 880 vouchered records shown · 14 without an institution code
09Environmental DNA69 detections
Where the DNA of Ariosoma balearicum was picked up in samples of water, soil or air — nobody saw the organism, only its DNA left behind. A trace is a clue that the species was near, not a confirmed sighting.
Signal
Detections DNA found69
Studies independent surveys2
Countries11
Verifiable raw sequence linked2
Signal confidence: moderateweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections
Where its DNA was found
0 of 69 detections have coordinates
Open the map11 countries0
Sandy BottomSandy bottomMarineMexico, Gulf of
How strong is each trace?
DNA read depthRead counts were not reported for this species — the map shows presence only, not how strong each trace was.
Modelled climatemodelled
−15°Ctemperature across detection sites+40°C
Temperature median25.0 °C 12.3–27.8
Seasonal swing summer↔winter11.9 °C
Max temp (day)27.1 °C 15.9–28.8
Min temp (night)24.1 °C 8.70–26.8
Precipitation137 mm/mo 0.7–190
Air humidity62.3 % 55.5–63.8
Vapour deficit1,247 Pa 661–1,408
Cloud cover28.6 % 10.2–38.4
CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 67 detection points · median with p10–p90 · reflects where sampling happened, not only the true niche
How to read this: each dot is one detection of this species' DNA in an environmental sample. The confidence meter weighs how many independent studies and places back up the signal — one detection in one study is a hint; many across several studies is solid. Records dated before 2008 (when eDNA methods began) are treated as likely mislabeled and left off the map.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation5 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility2 279 records↗
OBISOcean Biodiversity Information System1 458 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI69 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics49 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
Catalogue of LifeCOLtaxonomy↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗