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Myrichthys colubrinus  (Boddaert, 1781)

Harlequin snake eel
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Myrichthys colubrinus   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Myrichthys colubrinus (Harlequin snake eel)
Myrichthys colubrinus
Picture by Honeycutt, K.

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) > Anguilliformes (Eels and morays) > Ophichthidae (Snake eels) > Ophichthinae
Etymology: Myrichthys: Greek, myros, -ou = male of morey eel + Greek, ichthys = fish (Ref. 45335).

Environment / Climate / Range Ecology

Marine; reef-associated; depth range 0 - 35 m (Ref. 89972).   Tropical, preferred ?; 30°N - 30°S

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

Indo-Pacific: Red Sea south to Delagoa Bay, Mozambique and east to the Society Islands, French Polynesia. Often confused with Laticuda colubrina (Ref. 9710).

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 97.0 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 37816)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Vertebrae: 190 - 202. Broadly banded with black and white, sometimes with blotches, but may comprise additional species (Ref. 48635). Superficially resembles the venomous sea snake Laticauda colubrina, but is entirely harmless.

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Adults occur in shallow sandy flats and seagrass beds (Ref. 1602, 48635, 58302). Benthic (Ref. 58302). Feeds on small fishes and crustaceans (Ref. 89972). Commonly seen hunting during the day (Ref. 48635).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

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

McCosker, J.E. and P.H.J. Castle, 1986. Ophichthidae. p. 176-186. In M.M. Smith and P.C. Heemstra (eds.) Smiths' sea fishes. Springer-Verlag, Berlin. (Ref. 3972)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 115185)

  Not Evaluated 

CITES (Ref. 94142)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless




Human uses

FAO(Publication : search) | FisheriesWiki | Sea Around Us

More information

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Summary page | Point data | Common names | Photos

Internet sources

BHL | Cloffa | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes (gen., sp.) | DiscoverLife | DORIS | ECOTOX | Faunafri | Fishes of Iran | Fishtrace | GenBank(genome, nucleotide) | GloBI | GOBASE | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | National databases | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Scirus | SeaLifeBase | Tree of Life | Wikipedia(Go, Search) | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates of some properties based on models

Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82805):  PD50 = 0.5005   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00151 (0.00061 - 0.00373), b=2.91 (2.70 - 3.12), in cm Total Length, based on LWR estimates for this (Sub)family-body shape (Ref. 93245).
Trophic Level (Ref. 69278):  3.6   ±0.4 se; Based on size and trophs of closest relatives
Resilience (Ref. 69278):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Moderate vulnerability (45 of 100) .