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Bean's sawtooth eel

species of fish

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Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMar 7, 2026
Entity authorityQ3479986 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Bean's sawtooth eel (Serrivomer beanii, also known commonly as the longfin sawpalate, the saw-tooth snipe eel, the sawtooth eel, the shortnosed snipe eel, and the stout sawpalate) is an eel in the family Serrivomeridae (sawtooth eels). It was described by Theodore Gill and John Adam Ryder in 1883. It is a marine, deep water-dwelling eel which is known from throughout the Atlantic Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and the Western Pacific Ocean, including Iceland, South Africa (the Cape and Natal), Réunion, and Australia. It dwells at a depth range of 0–5,998 metres (0–19,680 ft), and leads a solitary lifestyle. It migrates vertically at night. Males can reach a maximum total length of 78–80 cm (30.7–31.5 in), making it the largest sawtooth eel.

The species epithet "beanii" was given in honour of American ichthyologist Tarleton Hoffman Bean. The Bean's sawtooth eel feeds primarily on benthic crustaceans including shrimps, and finfish, probably also small oreos and lanternfish. Young ones may be preyed upon by the Warty oreo (Allocyttus verrucosus). It is of no commercial interest to fisheries.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “Bean's sawtooth eel” as species of fish. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Bean's, sawtooth and species.

Editorial reviewUseful for establishing the present vocabulary of the subject while preserving a route back to the evidence on which that vocabulary rests. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1883—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with Bean's, sawtooth and species providing the first useful test.
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A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Bean's sawtooth eel”, the useful work is to connect “species of fish” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3479986. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1883.

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This entry incorporates text from “Bean's sawtooth eel” 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.