Snake Eel Family  – Ophichthidae

There are currently ELEVEN members of the Snake Eel or Ophichthidae Family, two from the Atlantic Ocean and eight from the Pacific Ocean, presented in this website:

FROM THE ATLANTIC (3):

FROM THE PACIFIC (8):

The Snake Eel or Ophichthidae Family is large with more than two hundred-ninety global species that are found in fifty-eight genera of which fifty-one are found in Mexican waters, twenty-three in the Atlantic Ocean and twenty-eight in the Pacific Ocean. They are known in Mexico’s fishing areas as tiesos.

The Snake Eels are found in all tropical and temperate oceans. They are a very diverse group of bottom dwellers with long snake-like bodies. The family is large and is distributed in all tropical and temperate oceans. They vary in size from 46 cm (18 inches) to 2.44 meters (8 feet 0 inches) in length and have eel-shaped bodies with a rounded cross section. They have small eyes, located just above the mouth, and numerous pores. Most have pointed snouts that overhang their lower jaw. Some have anal fins, dorsal fins, and/or pectoral fins. Their caudal fin tip varies from being hard, finless, and pointed to being conspicuous and confluent with the anal and dorsal fins. They have a complete lateral line and are scaleless. In general, the Snake Eels are poorly studied with very limited information available about their lifestyle and behavioral patterns including specific details on age, growth, longevity, movement patterns, diet, habitat use, and reproduction.

The Snake Eels are rarely seen by humans as they spend the majority of their time buried, tail first, in mud and sand. They use their pointed snout and pointed tail for digging. They only emerge at night to feed on crabs, shrimp, and small fish. From a conservation perspective most are considered to be of Least Concern with stable widely distributed populations; the others have not been formally evaluated. They are of no commercial importance and are obtained as a by-catch of deep water trawls and by hook and line by commercial fishermen. When caught by hook and line they can at times be difficult to release from their burrows.

Leptocephalus (Leaf-like) Larva of the Snake Eel or Ophichthidae Family. Interesting collection at night made off the ocean surface at sea off Fort Lauderdale Florida, August 2021. Collection and photograph courtesy of Faith Hubsch, Port Everglades, Florida. Placed in the Ophichthidae Family level courtesy of Dr. Ben Victor, Coralreeffish.com.