Leptocephalus

Cladus: Eukaryota
Supergroup: Opisthokonta
Regnum: Animalia
Subregnum: Eumetazoa
Cladus: Bilateria
Cladus: Nephrozoa
Cladus: Deuterostomia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Infraphylum: Gnathostomata
Superclassis: Osteichthyes
Classis: Actinopterygii
Subclassis: Neopterygii
Infraclassis: Teleostei
Superordo: Elopomorpha
Ordo: Anguilliformes
Subordo: Congroidei
Familia: Congridae
Genus: Leptocephalus

Leptocephalus is a genus that was used for species of larval eels, called leptocephali, that were thought to be new fish species, or whose adult eel species were not known. Leptocephali differ so much in appearance from their adults that the larvae and adults of eels are not easily matched, and when first discovered, leptocephali were thought to be a different type of fishes, but not eels. Because of this, the genus designation of Leptocephalus was used for a while for unidentified leptocephali even after it was known that these were the larvae of eels, but this practice is no longer used. Examples of marine congrid larvae, found in the western Indian Ocean and the Red Sea that were named this way are listed below.

Species

* Leptocephalus bellottii D'Ancona, 1928
* Leptocephalus congroides D'Ancona, 1928
* Leptocephalus ophichthoides D'Ancona, 1928/

References

* Froese, Rainer, and Daniel Pauly, eds. (2006). Species of Leptocephalus in FishBase. May 2006 version.