Ophichthus urolophus (Temminck & Schlegel, 1846)

3RAEª

Conger urolophus Temminck & Schlegel, 1846:260, pl. 114 (type locality: Nagasaki, Japan).

Ophichthus tsuchidae (Jordan & Snyder, 1901): Shen et al., 1993:114.

Ophichthus urolophus (Temminck & Schlegel, 1846): Shen et al., 1993:114; Shao et al., 2008:238; Ho et al., 2010:table 1; Chiu et al., 2013:206; McCosker & Ho, 2015:73.

Ophichthys urolophus (Temminck & Schlegel, 1846): Chen & Weng, 1967:71; Chen, 1969:137; Shen 1984a:117; Chen & Yu, 1986:259.

Ophichthys tsuchidai (Jordan & Snyder, 1901): Chen & Yu, 1986:259; Shao et al., 2008:238; Chiu et al., 2013:206.

Microdonophis intermedius (Regan, 1905): Liang, 1951:11; Chen, 1956:76.

Remarks. This is a very common species collected by bottom trawl from shallow to deep waters around Taiwan. In our examination of numerous specimens, we noted that the number of tooth rows changes with growth. There is usually a single row of teeth on both maxilla and dentary in specimens less than 300 mm TL, becoming biserial in specimens larger than 300 mm TL and triserial in specimens larger than 600 mm TL. Several authors have recognized O. tsuchidae from Taiwan, which is a junior synonym of O. urolophus .