Cutthroat eels are a family, Synaphobranchidae, of eels, the only members of the suborder Synaphobranchoidei. They are found worldwide in temperate and tropical seas.
Cutthroat eels range from in length. They are bottom-dwelling fish, found in deep waters down to about . They are distinguished by the presence of telescopic eyes in the larvae. In some classifications (for example, ITIS), this family is split, with Simenchelys in its own family, the Simenchelyidae.
Subfamilies and genera Cutthroat eels are classified into the following subfamilies and genera: Subfamily Simenchelyinae Gill, 1879 (pugnose parasitic eels) Simenchelys Gill, 1879 Subfamily Ilyophinae D. S. Jordan & Davis, 1891 (arrowtooth eels or mustard eels) Atractodenchelys C.H. Robins & C. R. Robins, 1970 Dysomma Alcock, 1889 Dysommina Ginsburg, 1951 Ilyophis Gilbert, 1891 Linkenchelys D. G. Smith, 1989 Meadia Böhlke, 1951 Thermobiotes Geistdoerfer, 1991 Subfamily Synaphobranchinae J. Y. Johnson, 1862 (cutthroat eels) Diastobranchus Barnard, 1923 Haptenchelys C. H. Robins & D. M. Martin, 1976 Histiobranchus Gill, 1883 Synaphobranchus J. Y. Johnson, 1862
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