Ophichthys

Not to be confused with Ophichthus.

Ophichthys is a genus of swamp eels native to South Asia. They live in freshwater or subterranean habitats, and some have a fossorial lifestyle.^[1]

Ophichthys
Ophichthys cuchia
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Actinopterygii
Order:	Synbranchiformes
Family:	Synbranchidae
Subfamily:	Synbranchinae
Genus:	Ophichthys Swainson, 1839
Species
See text

Taxonomy

All species in this genus were formerly classified in Monopterus, but a 2020 study found them to represent a distinct monophyletic clade from Monopterus. Due to this, the genus name Ophichthys, previously coined by William Swainson, was revived to be used for them.^[1][2] Ophichthys was formerly a wastebasket taxon used to lump in many unrelated species of eel-like fish (all of which are classified in separate genera today) and later synonymized with Monopterus until its resurrection.^[3]

Species

• Ophichthys cuchia (F. Hamilton, 1822) (Gangetic swamp eel or Gangetic mud-eel)^[4]
• Ophichthys desilvai (R. M. Bailey & Gans, 1998) (lesser swamp eel or Desilvai's blind eel)^[1]
• Ophichthys fossorius (K. K. Nayar, 1951) (Malabar swampeel)
• Ophichthys hodgarti (B. L. Chaudhuri, 1913) (Indian spaghetti-eel)^[5]
• Ophichthys ichthyophoides (Britz, Lalremsanga, Lalrotluanga & Lalramliana, 2011) (scaled swamp eel)^[6]
• Ophichthys indicus (Silas & E. Dawson, 1961) (Bombay swamp eel)
• Ophichthys terricolus