Protanguilla palau

Johnson, Ida & Sakaue, 2011 · species

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Animalia/Chordata/Anguilliformes/Protanguillidae/Protanguilla

At a glance

Occurrence records24

Data sources7

Biological traits4

DNA specimens0

eDNA detections12

Sources7 archives

Databases and archives Protanguilla palau's data was compiled from.

WikipediaWikimedia Foundation8 languages↗

BioWikiNetmultilingual Wikipediamultilingual↗

GBIFGlobal Biodiversity Information Facility12 records↗

OBISOcean Biodiversity Information System12 records↗

ENAEuropean Nucleotide Archive · EMBL-EBI12 eDNA detections↗

Open Tree of LifeOpenTreephylogeny backbone↗

WikidataWikimedia Foundationstructured facts↗

On this page4 sections

Every layer below draws on the sources above — open one to explore it, or use ← → to move between tabs.

NarrativeWikipediaarticle

Traits & measurements1 literature sources4 traits

Occurrence & distributionGBIF · OBIS24 records

Environmental DNA1 datasets · 4 countries12 detections

01Narrative

Protanguilla palau is a species of eel, the only species in the genus Protanguilla (first eel), which is in turn the only genus in its family, Protanguillidae. Individuals were found swimming in March 2010 in a deep underwater cave in a fringing reef off the coast of Palau. Protanguillidae is a sister group to all other eels.Springer, V. G. (2015). The Gill-Arch Musculature of Protanguilla, the Morphologically Most Primitive Eel (Teleostei: Anguilliformes), Compared with That of Other Putatively Primitive Extant Eels and Other Elopomorphs, 103(2), 595–620. doi: 10.1643/CI-14-152 They are monophyletic, yet also strongly synapomorphic with all other eel species. Molecular analysis shows that all other eels are also monophyletic, showing that they may have broken off directly from the Protanguillidae. for this reason it's known as a "Living Fossil."

No narrative description available for this taxon yet.

02Traits & measurements

SourcesFishBase

Habitat & environment2

Habitat saltwateryes

Habitat zonereef-associated

Other traits2

Depth min35 m

Vulnerability10

05DNA & barcoding12 eDNA hits

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 Protanguilla palau has left across the world's sequence archives.

At a glance

eDNA detections12

Countries4

07Deep time~147 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 origin147 Ma TimeTree

When this lineage existed

How to read this: the coloured strip along the bottomdown the left is the geological calendar — the standard periods (Jurassic, Cretaceous…) every museum uses, shown so you can see which chapter of Earth's history this lineage lived in. The dashed rules marked ✦ are the five great mass extinctions. 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 originmass extinction

08Occurrence & distribution

Record type24 records

Museum / vouchered24

Range

Area of Occupancy AOO24 km²

Depth

0–200 m sunlit12

200–1000 m twilight0

1–4 km midnight0

>4 km abyssal0

median 2 m · max 12 m · 12 records with depth

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 accuracy

no georeferenced coordinates · 24 records without

Open the institutions mapphysical evidence24

10Collections & institutions

Institution	Specimens
ARMS-MBONlocation not on record	12

1 institutions · 12 of 24 vouchered records shown

09Environmental DNA12 detections

Where the DNA of Protanguilla palau 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 found12

Studies independent surveys1

Countries4

Verifiable raw sequence linked12

Signal confidence: weakweighed across independent studies, places & mapped detections

Where its DNA was found

0 of 12 detections have coordinates

Open the map4 countries0

Industrial port; industrial; 9.4 - Subtidal …Long-Term Ecological Research Site; LHI (Low…Marina; semi-industrial; 9.5 - Subtidal Sand…Marina; semi-industrial; 9.2 - Subtidal Rock…

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 median15.2 °C 13.8–16.2

Seasonal swing summer↔winter9.40 °C

Max temp (day)16.9 °C 15.6–18.0

Min temp (night)13.2 °C 11.7–14.5

Precipitation69.7 mm/mo 49.8–79.2

Air humidity64.2 % 61.8–65.2

Moisture balance-62.4 mm/mo -79.2–-60.7

Vapour deficit633 Pa 565–662

Wind speed5.80 m/s 5.30–6.10

Cloud cover57.4 % 42.8–58.6

CHELSA 1981–2010, ~9 km grid, at location & month of 12 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.

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