Nemichthys scolopaceus
Richardson, 1848 · speciesAt a glance
Sources10 archives
Databases and archives Nemichthys scolopaceus's data was compiled from.
WikipediaWikimedia Foundation10 languages↗
BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗
GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility5 225 records↗
OBISOcean Biodiversity Information System5 863 records↗
ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI63 eDNA detections↗
BOLD SystemsCentre for Biodiversity Genomics78 specimens↗
Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗
WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗
Catalogue of LifeCOLtaxonomy↗
GLoBIGlobal Biotic Interactionsbiotic interactions↗Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.
The slender snipe eel (Nemichthys scolopaceus), also known as the deep sea duck, is a fish that can weigh only a few ounces, yet reach 5 feet or 1.5 m in length. Features include a bird-like beak with curving tips, covered with tiny hooked teeth, which they use to sweep through the water to catch shrimp and other crustaceans. It has a lifespan of ten years. It has more vertebrae in its backbone than any other animal, around 750. However, its anus has moved forward during its evolution and is now located on its throat. Its larvae are shaped like leaves, which actually get smaller before transforming into adults. Many specimens found in museums were spat up from larger fish that were caught in trawls. This organism is found 2,000 meters in the North Atlantic and they have more than 700 vertebrae which are normally over than other animals. The reproduction of these organisms is done by spawning which is when females lay the eggs and the males lay their sperm into the water column at the same time. The slender snipe eel only spawns once in their lifetime since they die after spawning. It is difficult for scientists to research these organisms since the extreme environment they inhabit as well as the conservation status of the slender snipe eel is not well known.
No narrative description available for this taxon yet.
Size & morphology1
Habitat & environment2
Uses & economy1
Other traits3
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 Nemichthys scolopaceus has left across the world's sequence archives.
At a glance
★ 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.
Besides the big genome in the nucleus, cells carry a small, circular loop of DNA inside the cell's energy factories — the mitochondria. It is inherited almost only from the mother and is a leftover from ancient bacteria that moved into the cell. The mitochondrial markers above (ND*, COX, CYTB…) are read from exactly this loop. Outer ring = one strand, inner ring = the other.
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
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.
Record type11 088 records
Origin
Range
Depth
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
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.
Wildobservation + sensor
Human sightings and records, or camera-trap / sensor detections — someone (or a device) saw or captured the species in the wild.
Holding institutions21 of 65 geolocated
Institutions and collections holding physical, vouchered specimens of this species — click a row to fly to it on the map.
| Institution | Specimens |
|---|---|
| Cambridge, US | 678 |
| Copenhagen, DK | 386 |
| The Atlantic reference Centrelocation not on record | 366 |
| FishBaselocation not on record | 335 |
| University of California San Diegolocation not on record | 272 |
| Washington, US | 258 |
| South Kensington, GB | 216 |
| Los Angeles, US | 196 |
| Zoologisches Museum Hamburglocation not on record | 158 |
| Paris, FR | 77 |
| UWFClocation not on record | 54 |
| Australian National Fish Collectionlocation not on record | 52 |
| Sydney, AU | 48 |
| ICATMARlocation not on record | 44 |
| Florida Museum of Natural History- Zoology, Paleontology & Paleobotanylocation not on record | 36 |
| New Haven, US | 32 |
| Bergen, NO | 30 |
| CASlocation not on record | 28 |
| North Carolina Museum of Natural Scienceslocation not on record | 22 |
| Chiba, JP | 19 |
| Kagoshima University Museumlocation not on record | 16 |
| IEO-COMA-CSIClocation not on record | 16 |
| Museums Victorialocation not on record | 16 |
| ICM-CSIClocation not on record | 15 |
| Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas, Instituto Politécnico Nacionallocation not on record | 13 |
| Toronto, CA | 12 |
| Oregon State Universitylocation not on record | 11 |
| Western Australian Museumlocation not on record | 9 |
| Chicago, US | 8 |
| Wuzhou, CN | 8 |
| Stockholm, SE | 7 |
| South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversitylocation not on record | 7 |
| Museo civico La Terra e l'Uomo di Crocetta del Montellolocation not on record | 5 |
| Maurice Lamontagne Institutelocation not on record | 5 |
| Ann Arbor, US | 5 |
| Moore Laboratory of Zoology, Occidental Collegelocation not on record | 4 |
| Barcelona, ES | 4 |
| Texas Cooperative Wildlife Collectionlocation not on record | 4 |
| Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territorylocation not on record | 3 |
| CSIRO, Australian National Fish Collectionlocation not on record | 2 |
| University Museum of Bergen, Natural History Collectionslocation not on record | 2 |
| University of Mazandaranlocation not on record | 2 |
| University of Texas Biodiversity Collections (UTBC)location not on record | 2 |
| The Hague, Museonlocation not on record | 2 |
| Vancouver, CA | 2 |
| SNSB-Zoologische Staatssammlung Münchenlocation not on record | 2 |
| Museu Nacional/Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeirolocation not on record | 2 |
| IEOlocation not on record | 2 |
| Universidad del Valle (UniValle)location not on record | 2 |
| DOI/NPS, Salem Maritime National Historic Sitelocation not on record | 2 |
| Frankfurt am Main | 2 |
| Sherkin Island Marine Stationlocation not on record | 2 |
| California State University, Long Beachlocation not on record | 1 |
| University of Washingtonlocation not on record | 1 |
| Ohio State University - Fish Division, Columbus, OH (OSUM)location not on record | 1 |
| Nova Scotia Museumlocation not on record | 1 |
| Yokosuka City Museumlocation not on record | 1 |
| Edmonton, CA | 1 |
| Museu Nacional de História Natural e da Ciêncialocation not on record | 1 |
| SCSDlocation not on record | 1 |
| Honolulu, US | 1 |
| Vavilov Institute of General Geneticslocation not on record | 1 |
| NOCSlocation not on record | 1 |
| NTNU-VMlocation not on record | 1 |
| Montgomery, US | 1 |
Where the DNA of Nemichthys scolopaceus 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
Where its DNA was found
How strong is each trace?
Modelled climatemodelled
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.