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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(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

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

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

Marine; reef-associated; depth range 0 - 35 m (Ref. 89972). Tropical; 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 Identification keys | 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 E. | 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. 130435: Version 2024-1)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 03 November 2020

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Harmless





Human uses

FAO - Publication: search | FishSource | Sea Around Us

More information

Trophic ecology
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Length-weight rel.
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References

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Summary page | Point data | Common names | Photos

Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | DORIS | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | National databases | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 25 - 29.3, mean 28.3 °C (based on 3362 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5005   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00091 (0.00039 - 0.00215), b=2.99 (2.79 - 3.19), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this (Sub)family-body shape (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  3.5   ±0.50 se; based on food items.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Medium, minimum population doubling time 1.4 - 4.4 years (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  High vulnerability (59 of 100).
Nutrients (Ref. 124155):  Calcium = 32.9 [18.2, 56.4] mg/100g; Iron = 0.479 [0.290, 0.984] mg/100g; Protein = 18.8 [16.6, 21.4] %; Omega3 = 0.0993 [, ] g/100g; Selenium = 43.9 [25.3, 86.4] μg/100g; VitaminA = 45.9 [13.8, 137.5] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.915 [0.663, 1.266] mg/100g (wet weight);