The Colocongridae, the Worm eels or Short-tail eels are a family of eel

Eel

Eels are an order of fish, which consists of four suborders, 20 families, 111 genera and approximately 800 species. Most eels are predators...

s, containing a single genus, Coloconger.

Colongrids are found in tropical waters of the Atlantic, Indian, and West Pacific oceans. They are bottom-dwelling fish, living in waters from 300 metres (984.3 ft) to 900 metres (2,952.8 ft) depth. Compared with other eels, they have a relatively short and stubby body, with a blunt snout.

Species

There are eight known species of Colocongrid:

Family Colocongridae

• Genus Coloconger
  • Coloconger cadenati Kanazawa, 1961
  • Coloconger canina (Castle & Raju, 1975)
  • Coloconger eximia (Castle, 1967)
  • Coloconger giganteus (Castle, 1959) (Giant leptocephalus) (Validity doubtful)
  • Coloconger japonicus Machida, 1984
  • Coloconger meadi Kanazawa, 1957
  • Coloconger raniceps Alcock
    Alfred William Alcock
    Alfred William Alcock was a British physician naturalist and carcinologist.Alcock was the son of a sea-captain, John Alcock in Bombay, India who retired to live in Blackheath...
    
    , 1889 (Froghead eel)
  • Coloconger scholesi W. L. Chan, 1967 (Indo-Pacific short-tail conger)