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.

Class: Teleosts
Order: True Eels
Family: Ophichthidae
Genus: Ophisurus
Maximum length: 250 cm
Body shape: anguilliform
Distribution: Circumglobal: Atlantic (northern coast of Iberian peninsula to South Africa, also Madeira and western Mediterranean) and Indo-Pacific: southern Mozambique to South Africa; north to Japan, south to Australasia.
Conservation status: LCLeast Concern

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