Body nearly cylindric. Anus situated forward of mid-body, total length 2.8 times of preanal length. Trunk length 2.0 times of head length. Pectoral fin absent. Dorsal origin over gill-opening, but difficult to detect. Eye extremely small, embedded, merely a tiny black dot, situated about equidistant between tip of snout and corner of mouth. Anterior nostril near tip of snout; posterior nostril immediately in front of eye; both with low fleshy rims. Tongue free. Teeth on maxillary and dentary in 2〜3 rows, outer row teeth pointed, inner row teeth molar; teeth on vomer in 2 rows and molar (Fig.).
Distribution:
Off Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Suriname.
Remarks:
The family Heterenchelyidae is comprised of 2 genera. Trunk length of Panturichthys is shorter than head. Pythonichthys microphthalmus is known off the West coast of Africa (Ben-Tuvia, 1956; Böhlke, 1966). (Uyeno and Sasaki)