The bobtail snipe eels are two species of deep-sea fishes in the family Cyematidae, one only in each of two genera

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

. They are small elongate fishes, growing up to 16 centimeters (6 inches) long.

They are bathypelagic (deep-water ocean-dwellers) and have been found down to 5,000 meters (16,400 feet). They are found in all oceans.

J. S. Nelson classifies them with the true eels in the order Anguilliformes
, but FishBase

FishBase

FishBase is a comprehensive database of information about fish species . It is the largest and most extensively accessed online database on adult finfish on the web...

 classifies them with the gulper eels in the order Saccopharyngiformes

Saccopharyngiformes

Saccopharyngiformes is an order of unusual ray-finned fish superficially similar to eels, but with many internal differences. Most of the fish in this order are deep-sea types known from only a handful of specimens such as the Umbrella Mouth Gulper Eel. Saccopharyngiformes are also bioluminescent...

.