A giant anguilliform leptocephalus Thalassenchelys foliaceus Castle & Raju is a junior synonym of Congriscus maldivensis (Norman 1939)

A single specimen of giant leptocephalus <i>Thalassenchelys foliaceus</i> Castle & Raju 1975 was caught in subtropical waters of the western North Pacific Ocean. Mitochondrial <i>coI</i> gene sequence divergence between <i>T. foliaceus</i> and <i>Congriscus maldivensis</i> (Norman 1939) was 0·64 ± 0·27% (mean ± s.e.), and the myomere and vertebral counts of these species were similar, indicating <i>T. foliaceus</i> is a junior synonym of <i>C. maldivensis.</i>