Suculentophichthus nasus Fricke, Golani & Appelbaum-Golani, 2015
Red Sea flappy snake eel
Suculentophichthus nasus
photo by Golani, D.

Family:  Ophichthidae (Snake eels), subfamily: Ophichthinae
Max. size:  37.45 cm TL (male/unsexed)
Environment:  benthopelagic; marine; depth range 0 - 1 m
Distribution:  Western Indian Ocean: Red Sea (Israel).
Diagnosis:  This species is distinguished by the following characters: tail length 66.4%, head length 6.6%, and body depth at gill opening 1.7% of total length; the dorsal-fin origin is well in advance of pectoral-fin base; elongate pectoral fin; posterior nostril a hole above the upper lip; a broad, succulent-leaf shaped flap near the anterior nostril; pores are small but conspicuous, SO 1 + 4, IO 4 + 2, POM 5 + 2, ST 3; teeth are small and conical, biserial on anterior part of upper jaw, biserial on lower jaw, a series of 6 vomerine teeth; colouration light brown, with numerous dark brown lines on head and pigment spots on upper half of body and dorsal and anal fins whitish; vertebral formula 5/64/193 (Ref. 103840).
Biology:  This species is seined on shallow sand bottom, at 0.5-1 m. Apparently very rare, or rarely encountered by divers or snorkelers, possibly also due to its cryptic burying habits (Ref. 103840).
IUCN Red List Status: Not Evaluated (N.E.) Ref. (130435)
Threat to humans:  harmless


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