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Cynoponticus
	Cynoponticus savanna
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Anguilliformes
Family:	Muraenesocidae
Genus:	Cynoponticus; O. G. Costa, 1845
Type species
	Cynoponticus ferox; Costa, 1846
Species
	3 described species, see text

Cynoponticus is a genus of marine ray-fiined fishes belonging to the family Muraenesocidae, the pike congers. The fishes in this genus are found in the Eastern and Western Atlantic Oceans and the Eastern Pacific Ocean, with a single parapatric species in each region.

Taxonomy

Cynoponticus was first proposed as a genus in 1845 by the Italian zoologist Oronzio Gabriele Costa, although the formal description of what was then its only species, C. ferox, was not published until 1846.^[1] The pages of Costa's publication were sold separately, in sets which were not organised systematically or chronologically, hence the different publication dates.^[2] The type locality of C. ferox was given as Ischia, an island in the Gulf of Naples.^[3] This genus is classified within the family Muraenesocidae, part of the suborder Congroidei in the order Anguilliformes, the eels.^[4]

Etymology

Cyanoponticus combins cynos, the latinised form of kynos, a Greek word for dog" with ponticus, meaning "of the sea", and so means "sea dog". This name is an allusion to the freocious appearrance of C. ferox which Costa described as having a "large mouth armed … with feral teeth".^[2]

Species

Cynoponticus has the following three species classified within it:^[3]^[5]

Cynoponticus coniceps (D. S. Jordan & C. H. Gilbert, 1882) (Red pike conger)
Cynoponticus ferox O. G. Costa, 1846 (Guinean pike conger)
Cynoponticus savanna (Bancroft, 1831) (Guayana pike conger)

Characteristics

Cynoponticus pike congers have heavy bodies with large conical heads, the tail is equivalent to 60% of the total length. The eyes are covered in skin, the anterior nostril is tube-shaped while the posterior nostril is an elliptical hole. The mouth is long with robust jaws which have multipe rows of well developed teeth, with another three rows of vomerine teeth, the middle rwo being very well developed and triangular. The larger teeth at the front of the lower jaw fit into a groove on the underside of the snout. The crescent-shaped gill openings are large, low set and almost meeet ventrally. The large pectoral fins are centred on the upper margin of the gill openings.The long dorsal and anal fins merge with the caudal fin, the dorsal fin has its origin either above or just in front of the gill openinds. The obvious lateral line runs along the whole length of the body, with many systems of open pores, although there are no pores on the head.^[6] The largest published total length for this genus is 202 cm (80 in) for a red pike conger (C. coniceps).^[5]

Distribution and habitat

Cynoponticus pike congers are tropical and subtropical species with one species,C. coniceps, in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, another, C. savanna, in the Western Atlantic and the third, C. ferox, in the Eastern Atlantic.^[6] They are found over soft substrates at depths down to 100 m (330 ft).^[5]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Genera in the family Muraenesocidae". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 14 November 2024.
^ ^a ^b Christopher Scharpf (6 November 2023). "Family MURAENESOCIDAE Kaup 1859 (Pike Congers)". The ETYFish Project Fish Name Etymology Database. Christopher Scharpf. Retrieved 14 November 2024.
^ ^a ^b Eschmeyer, William N.; Fricke, Ron & van der Laan, Richard (eds.). "Species in the genus Cynoponticus". Catalog of Fishes. California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 14 November 2024.
^ "Eschmeyer's Catalog of Fishes Classification". California Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 14 November 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c Froese, Rainer; Pauly, Daniel (eds.). "Species in genus Cynoponticus". FishBase. June 2024 version.
^ ^a ^b "Genus: Cynoponticus, Guayana Pikeconger Eel, Pikeconger Eels". Shorefishes of the Greater Caribbean online information system. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. Retrieved 14 November 2024.

Congridae. p. 156-167. In J.C. Quero, J.C. Hureau, C. Karrer, A. Post and L. Saldanha (eds.) Check-list of the fishes of the eastern tropical Atlantic (CLOFETA). JNICT, Lisbon; SEI, Paris; and UNESCO, Paris. Vol. 1 (Ref. 4453)