Fish of the Facciolella genus of the Nettastomatidae (duckbill eels or witch eels) family of the Congroidei suborder of the Anguilliformes (eels) order of the Elopomorpha superorder.
(Facciola’s sorcerer. Photo by © OCEANA. flickr.com/photos/oceanaeurope)
Facciola’s sorcerer (Facciolella oxyrhyncha) was first described in 1883 by the Italian ichthyologist and paleontologist Cristoforo Bellotti (1823-1919).
It occurs at the depth of 30-731 meters. Full-grown fish prefer to stay deep, young specimens are occasionally found near the coast, hiding in caves and crevices of rocks. The maximum recorded length is 64.9 cm. Specimens up to 30 cm long are more common. It has nocturnal habits. Feeds on crustaceans and other benthic organisms.
(Facciola’s sorcerer. Photo by © Dr. Peter Wirtz. fishbase.org)
It is extremely rare in the Adriatic Sea. It was recorded to be found in the central and southern parts of the Adritic a couple of times.
Names of Facciola’s sorcerer (Facciolella oxyrhyncha) in other languages are as follows:
Facciolella (Italian), Facciola-Hexenaal (German), Čarobni patkokljunac, Čarobni patkokljunić (Serbian, Croatian), Sorcière de Facciola (French), Štíhlohlavec messinský (Czech).