The longtailed shortfaced eel[1] (Pythonichthys macrurus) is an eel in the family Heterenchelyidae (mud eels).[2] It was described by Charles Tate Regan in 1912, originally under the genus Heterenchelys. It is a tropical, marine eel which is known from coastal waters ranging from Sierra Leone to Angola, in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. Males can reach a maximum total length of 80 centimetres.[2]