Ophisurus serpens Serpent eel

Ophisurus serpens is commonly referred to as Serpent eel. Difficulty in the aquarium: suitable for large display tanks (public aquarium or zoo) only. A aquarium size of at least 3000 Liter is recommended. Toxicity: Toxic hazard unknown.

Profile

lexID:

4948 

AphiaID:

126317 

Scientific:

Ophisurus serpens 

German:

Langschnauzen-Schlangenaal 

English:

Serpent Eel 

Category:

Slangalen 

Family tree:

Animalia (Kingdom) > Chordata (Phylum) > Actinopterygii (Class) > Anguilliformes (Order) > Ophichthidae (Family) > Ophisurus (Genus) > serpens (Species) 

Initial determination:

(Linnaeus, ), 1758 

Occurrence:

West Sahara, Benin, Ghana, Straße von Gibraltar, Algeria, Angola, Cameroon, Congo, East-Atlantic Ocean, Equatorial Guinea, Japan, Madeira, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South-Africa, Spain, the Cape Verde Archipelago, the Ivory Coast, the Mediterranean Sea, Togo, Western Indian Ocean, Western Pacific Ocean 

Marine Zone:

Mesopelagial
Mesopelagic zone
lies between 200 to 1000 meters depth, thus it is considered the "twilight zone of the sea" between the light and dark depth zones. 

Sea depth:

0 - 300 Meter 

Size:

39.37" - 98.43" (100cm - 250cm) 

Temperature:

68 °F - 82.4 °F (20°C - 28°C) 

Food:

Crustaceans, Fish (little fishes), Frozen Food (large sort), Invertebrates, Worms, Zoobenthos 

Tank:

659.94 gal (~ 3000L)  

Difficulty:

suitable for large display tanks (public aquarium or zoo) only 

Offspring:

None 

Toxicity:

Toxic hazard unknown 

CITES:

Not evaluated 

Red List:

Least concern (LC)  

Related species at
Catalog of Life:

• 
  Ophisurus macrorhynchos
  Großschnauzen-Schlangenaal, Langschnabel-Schlangenaal
• 
  Ophisurus serpens
  Langschnauzen-Schlangenaal

 

Author:

Meerwasser-Lexikon Team

Publisher:

Meerwasser-Lexikon.de

Created:

2013-01-06 16:43:34 

Last edit:

2026-06-21 13:01:18 

Info

Pictures

Commonly

1

1

Husbandry know-how of owners