Saccopharynx ampullaceus
species of fish
Saccopharynx ampullaceus, referred to as the gulper eel, gulper, taillight gulper or pelican-fish, is an ocean-dwelling eel found in the North Atlantic Ocean. They are found up to a depth of 3,000 m (9,800 ft). These fish are rarely observed, so little information is currently known about their habits or full distribution.
Type specimen
In the fall of 1826, a Captain Sawyer, of the ship Harmony, of Hull, while cruising for northern bottlenose whales at 62° N and about 57° W, found the type specimen, floating at the surface, of what was named Ophiognathus ampullaceus by I. Harwood, at the time the professor of natural history at the Royal Institution of Great Britain. It was at first thought to be an inflated seal skin, but on getting closer they realized it was alive. It was attempting to eat a perch of "about seven inches in circumference". The 1.37 metres (4 ft 6 in) specimen was captured and preserved in rum.
Physical characteristics
Like other saccopharyngiforms, these fish have large mouths and long, slender bodies with long tails that have a bioluminescent organ at the tip. The function of this organ is currently unknown.
Saccopharynx ampullaceus lacks a traditional gas-filled swim bladder, presumably due to the pressures at the depths they live in.
The public source identifies “Saccopharynx ampullaceus” as species of fish. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Saccopharynx, ampullaceus and species.
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Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Oct 6, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q492002. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1826.
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This entry incorporates text from “Saccopharynx ampullaceus” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.