Myroconger is the only genus of eels, the thin eels, in the family Myrocongridae. Very little is known about the group. Until recently, only a single specimen from this family was known. This individual had been caught off St Helena in 1868. In the 1990s and 2000s, deep-sea submersibles identified several more individuals, including four further species. The first known species, M. compressus, was bright red in colour, but not all other species share this trait.