Ophichthidae

serpent eel

Ophisurus serpens

Buried by day emergence by night

• Brown
• Tropical
• Transcontinental
• Atlantic Ocean
• Indian Ocean
• Pacific Ocean
• Africa
• East Asia
• Anguilliform
• Large
• Tropical fish

The serpent eel or sand snake-eel (Ophisurus serpens) is an eel found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, western Mediterranean Sea, western Indian Ocean, western Pacific Ocean and the north-east and west coast of North Island in New Zealand. It is an elongated, slender fish with a length of up to 250 centimetres. It spends the day with its body immersed in the sediment, emerging into the open water at night.