Australia country information

Common names: Giant snake eel, Serpent eel, Snake eel
Occurrence: native
Salinity: brackish
Abundance: | Ref:
Importance: | Ref:
Aquaculture: | Ref:
Regulations: | Ref:
Uses: no uses
Comments: Occurs in Western Australia, South Australia, New South Wales and Tasmania (Ref. 7300).
National Checklist:
Country Information: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/resources/the-world-factbook/geos/as.html
National Fisheries Authority: http://www.csiro.au/
Occurrences: Occurrences Point map
Main Ref: May, J.L. and J.G.H. Maxwell, 1986
National Database:

Common names from other countries

Serpenton à nez long, Sand snake eel, Eel, ... more

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Anguilliformes (Eels and morays) > Ophichthidae (Snake eels) > Ophichthinae
Etymology: Ophisurus: Greek, ophis = serpent + Greek, oura = tail (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Linnaeus.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; brackish; demersal; depth range ? - 300 m (Ref. 9563). Subtropical; 46°N - 41°S, 18°W - 179°E

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

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.

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: L_m ? range ? - ? cm
Max length : 250 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 3972); common length : 100.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 3397)

Short description Identification keys | Morphology | Morphometrics

Body olive green to brown above, paler below; head pores black; young silvery (Ref. 3972).

Inhabiting the continental shelf on sand or mud bottom (Ref. 4455). Buried with only its head exposed (Ref. 27121). Also found in estuaries (Ref. 9563).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturities | Reproduction | Spawnings | Egg(s) | Fecundities | Larvae

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator : McCosker, John E. | Collaborators

Bauchot, M.-L., 1986. Ophichthidae (including Echelidae). p. 577-585. In P.J.P. Whitehead, M.-L. Bauchot, J.-C. Hureau, J. Nielsen and E. Tortonese (eds.) Fishes of the north-eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. volume 2. UNESCO, Paris. (Ref. 6522)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 20 October 2011

CITES (Ref. 128078)

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

Harmless

Human uses

Fisheries: minor commercial; gamefish: yes

FAO(Publication : search) | FishSource |

More information

Trophic ecology
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Check for Aquarium maintenance | Check for Species Fact Sheets | Check for Aquaculture Fact Sheets

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Summary page | Point data | Common names | Photos

Internet sources

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 115969): 13.4 - 27.4, mean 19.7 (based on 1148 cells).

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804): PD₅₀ = 0.7500 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].

Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00071 (0.00040 - 0.00124), b=2.97 (2.82 - 3.12), in cm Total Length, based on LWR estimates for this species & (Sub)family-body (Ref. 93245).

Trophic level (Ref. 69278): 4.1 ±0.7 se; based on size and trophs of closest relatives

Resilience (Ref. 120179): Very Low, minimum population doubling time more than 14 years (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).

Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153): Very high vulnerability (90 of 100).

Price category (Ref. 80766): Unknown.

Ophisurus serpens (Linnaeus, 1758)