Banded Snake Eel

Q: Where can you find Banded Snake Eel?

Banded Snake Eel can be found in: Laccadive Islands, Mariana Islands, Australia West, Malaysia East, Taiwan, Australia North, Marshall Islands, Malaysia West, Komodo Island, Hawaii, Somalia East, Vanuatu, Brunei, China, Myanmar, Australia, Hong Kong, Kenya, India, USA West, Japan South, India East, India West, Thailand East, Thailand West, Oman, Oman East, Australia East, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Vietnam, Seychelles, Cambodia, Indo-Pacific, Papua New Guinea, French Polynesia, Polynesia, Singapore, Tanzania, Malaysia, USA, South Africa, Japan, Indonesia, Chagos Islands, Mozambique, Palau, Philippines, Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Micronesia, Tonga and Samoa, Mascarene Islands, Madagascar, Kiribati, Comoros, Fiji, Thailand, Somalia.

Leiuranus semicinctus

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Max Depth

10 m

Leiuranus semicinctus is an eel in the family Ophichthidae (worm/snake eels). It was described by George Tradescant Lay and Edward Turner Bennett in 1839, originally under the genus Ophisurus.

Other names: Saddled Snake-eel, Halfbanded snake-eel or Culverin.

Description

Males can reach a maximum total length of 66 centimetres (2.17 ft). Body is distinctly banded white to yellowish with 25-30 black saddles along the back and sides.

Distribution

It is a marine, tropical eel which is known from the Indo-Pacific and southeastern Atlantic Ocean, including East and South Africa, the Hawaiian Islands, the Marquesan Islands, the Mangaréva islands, Japan, and Australia.

Habitat

It dwells at a depth range of 0 to 70 metres (0 to 230 ft), most often around 0 to 10 metres (0 to 33 ft), and inhabits lagoons and reefs, in which it forms burrows in beds of seagrass and sandy areas. The Saddled snake-eel's diet consists of fish, crabs, prawns, and worms including Ptychodera. Males and females rise to the surface of the water during spawning.