Starry Night Eel

[blue2fyre]

Has anyone ever heard of a starry night eel? My LFS just got one in and I can't find any info on the internet about them. Does anyone known a scientific name?
They also had a black leopard eel. I can't find much on those either.

[BioHazard]

Was it in freshwater?? Geez, I hate the common names they come up with sometimes, lol.

[blue2fyre]

Both were freshwater.

I agree I also HATE common names. I swear they made them up when the fish came in. Anyway I didn't get a good look at the starry night eel but the black leopard eel was a spiney eel(I think). They are suppose to call me when they catch the starry eel so I can get a good look at him.

[blue2fyre]

The black leopard eel was only 4 inches long but had a thicker body. It was shaped like a fire eel but was dark brown with a lighter brown stripe running along it's back.

Like I said I didn't get a look at the starry night eel but he said it was thinner and shaped more like a kuhli loach but had a pointed nose.
He said it kind of looked like this:
http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=485462&stc=1&d=1270495504

Though I haven't seen it yet so I can't confirm.

[BioHazard]

Here is an old thread....http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=862888

I also played on google a bit, and it sounds like "starry night" eels are just spiny eels. Might be a color variant, but more than likely just a cool sounding name.

[blue2fyre]

Any idea how big they get?

[BioHazard]

Depends on what species exactly...could be 1 to 3 feet.

[blue2fyre]

Yeah that's the problem. The last thing I need is a 3 foot eel I can't house.

[BioHazard]

Almost gonna have to have pics with a name like that. I would look at photos of FW eels, and see what you find, or get a photo at the store.

[fishorama]

I remember a post about starry night eels over on loaches.com quite a while ago. I'll see if I can find it...

[toddnbecka]

I was looking into those a while back. Best I could come up with for the starry night eel was this: http://www.fishbase.org/Summary/speciesSummary.php?ID=10071&genusname=Mastacembelus&speciesname=vanderwaali