CreatureData

Pygmy eel

Ophisternon bengalense McClelland, 1844

Status not recordedbony fish

The pygmy eel (Ophisternon bengalense) is a species in the family Synbranchidae, order Synbranchiformes.

No freely licensed photo yet

Quick facts about the pygmy eel

Weight
Not recorded
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
Not recorded
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Young per litter or clutch
Not recorded
Conservation status
Not recorded
Countries on record
Not recorded

Where does the pygmy eel live?

Not recorded

Where has it been introduced?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the pygmy eel as introduced in 1 country.

  1. Indonesia

Introduced means brought by people and now present; invasive means the country's checklist records an impact. A species can be native to one part of a country and introduced in another. Source: Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (CC BY 4.0).

Is the pygmy eel endangered?

No conservation assessment is recorded for this species in our sources. That is not the same as being safe: it has not been matched to an assessment.

How is the pygmy eel classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classTeleostei
  4. orderSynbranchiformes
  5. familySynbranchidae
  6. genusOphisternon
  7. SpeciesOphisternon bengalense McClelland, 1844

Synonyms Ophisternon bengalensis, Ophisternon hepaticus, Symbranchus bengalensis, Synbranchus bengalensis, Tetrabranchus microphthalmus, Tetrabranchus micropthalma

Other names and names in other languages (11)
  • Asian swamp eelEnglish
  • Bengal eelEnglish
  • Bengal mud eelEnglish
  • Bengal swamp eelEnglish
  • One-gilled eelEnglish
  • Onegill eelEnglish
  • Ricefield eelEnglish
  • OgdokCebuano
  • hrdložábřík bengálskýCzech
  • ปลาไหลหลาดThai
  • IgatFilipino

Catalogue of Life

Relatives of the pygmy eel

Other species in the same genus Ophisternon.

Anguila Ciega

Ophisternon infernale

SynbranchidaeNo free photo yet

Swamp eel

Ophisternon aenigmaticum

SynbranchidaeNo free photo yet

Swamp eel

Ophisternon gutturale

SynbranchidaeNo free photo yet

ComparePygmy eel vs Blind cave eelPygmy eel vs Anguila CiegaPygmy eel vs Swamp eelPygmy eel vs Guinea swamp eel

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

Is the pygmy eel an invasive species?

The Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species lists the pygmy eel as introduced in 1 country: Indonesia, but does not flag it as invasive in any of them.

What kind of animal is the pygmy eel?

The pygmy eel (Ophisternon bengalense) belongs to the family Synbranchidae in the order Synbranchiformes.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-13. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Pygmy eel (Ophisternon bengalense). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/pygmy-eel

MLA

“Pygmy eel (Ophisternon bengalense).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/pygmy-eel.

BibTeX
@misc{pygmy_eel_2026,
  title = {Pygmy eel (Ophisternon bengalense)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/pygmy-eel},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-13}
}