snake eels?
Printed From: The Fishing Website
Category: General Forums
Forum Name: The Fish Tank
Forum Description: Discuss fish species here - ecology, ichthyology, biology, habitats etc
URL: https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1737
Printed Date: 19 Sep 2026 at 7:53am
Topic: snake eels?
Posted By: Kerren
Subject: snake eels?
Date Posted: 24 Jun 2003 at 6:59am
so what do we know about these crazy looking creatures? anyone caught one? ------------- I am Kermit, Leader of Muppets Nov 05 |
Replies:
Posted By: KingfishSi
Date Posted: 24 Jun 2003 at 8:19am
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Nope, never caught one... But here are a couple of facts... They belong to the Ophichthidae family, they are related to the moray eel, there are nearly 200 species worldwide, instead of a flat tail for swimming they have a pointed tail used for burrowing into the sand. They also have a lack of fins. And as the picture shows... they do have one of those  ------------- Keep knockin', nobody's home. |
Posted By: Kerren
Date Posted: 24 Jun 2003 at 8:23am
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hahaha.....good one Kingfishsi! apprently rather common inhabitants of the Manukau?.....take it away Smudge the Snake-Eel Rangler! ------------- I am Kermit, Leader of Muppets Nov 05 |
Posted By: KingfishSi
Date Posted: 24 Jun 2003 at 8:29am
Hehe... he ain't the Great Gurnard Guru but maybe that's what he is Kerren... the 'Great Snake Eel Wrangler'... Sorry Smudge ------------- Keep knockin', nobody's home. |
Posted By: smudge
Date Posted: 24 Jun 2003 at 9:20am
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Well the way I see it ... why mess around catching ordinary everyday fish like snapper when there are beauties like that in the sea? Yes I have caught a snake eel while trying to catch piper at Whatipu and yes there are a few in the Manukau. I have seen a pic of one that was about 2.5 - 3 metres long. Although the one I caught was probably about a metre long. I see them regularly at night although once again they arent more than a metre long. One was caught during the Gurnard Guru, winning the angler a rod and reel I think. They look and swim like a snake with a pointy head and a huge mouth but same sort of colouration as a freshwater eel. A one metre long snake eel is about the diameter of a pencil or a little bigger. Any other eel info anyone want????? My dream is to one day catch a hagfish.... |
Posted By: Kerren
Date Posted: 24 Jun 2003 at 9:24am
OMG.......Smudge the Hagfish Hunter!!  A man of many talents!! ------------- I am Kermit, Leader of Muppets Nov 05 |
Posted By: Mars
Date Posted: 24 Jun 2003 at 10:52am
Snake Eels. Never caught one, but was on a charter in the BOI when a lucky? punter pulled one in. Evil looking things, and it was bigger than the ones you describe Smudge. At least 2 metres long. The regular deckie wasnt on the boat for that trip, and the skipper thought it would be a great joke to throw it in the livey tank, to surprise him in the morning!  Dont know the outcome of that....Stick to Gurnard hunting Smudge. Hagfish are over-rated.  Mars |
Posted By: Peter da Squid
Date Posted: 24 Jun 2003 at 5:25pm
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Plenty of Blind Mullet in the Manukau - no not Blind Barrie, mainly seen down towards Pukatutu Island ... common name Turd P.Squid- the man who talks blind mullet.. |
Posted By: wakatoa
Date Posted: 24 Jun 2003 at 6:09pm
| Theres an eel like that called a silver conger that lives in holes in the sand but their diameter is about half what a normal big conger would be for its length. The mouth looks about the same as on the one my neighbour caught at xmas. |
Posted By: smudge
Date Posted: 24 Jun 2003 at 10:39pm
| Hahahahahaa ....I just read my post on Eels in reply to a question by Lollipop..... 28 November 2002 |
Posted By: long john
Date Posted: 25 Jun 2003 at 8:24am
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Have seen these guys while diving, mainly around the Mercury islands in 50+feet. Don't know how long they were 'cause they've just got their heads poking out but they're necks would be the diameter of a beer can- maybe slightly less. Wicked dentition- wouldn't want to wrestle one. At the bookcase lives a whole 'school' of them- half a dozen or so. |
Posted By: sweet tooth#3
Date Posted: 28 Jun 2003 at 10:04pm
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caught one at onewhero bay over sand , its the bay on the kent passage side of the brampton reef if u no where that is, in th boi. reel long skinny thing, T nui |
Posted By: tobez
Date Posted: 29 Jul 2003 at 7:20pm
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we used to get whole runs of the bloody things in about 150m along with the blind eel - even more of a pain buti ve never seen a small one they were all 2-3 m long we also caught blennys with them - theres an unusual fish bet you fullas aint seen much??? ------------- Waikato North Harbourmaster...Got a Nav Safety question for the Waikato region?...call me 021705642 or download the app Marine Mate! |
Posted By: KingfishSi
Date Posted: 30 Jul 2003 at 8:39am
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Tobes, what are blennys? ------------- Keep knockin', nobody's home. |
Posted By: smudge
Date Posted: 30 Jul 2003 at 9:43am
| Blennies ....little fish that live around rocks. |
Posted By: 1000PA
Date Posted: 02 Aug 2003 at 7:34am
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Just returned from Rarotonga, there's plenty of Snake Eels there. I'll post a photo when they're developed. Ross ------------- Fishing-4-all-NZ |
Posted By: smudge
Date Posted: 02 Aug 2003 at 11:42pm
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When Toad and I were kahawai fishing we saw several ... probably just two of them swimming back and forth one about 30 cm long and another maybe twice that so they were only babies. They swim right on the surface snappiung at things that cant be seen. I tried to talk Toad into picking one up but was a little too slippery.... Hiya Rosscoe ..... catch any tuna over there? |
Posted By: 1000PA
Date Posted: 03 Aug 2003 at 9:27am
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No Smudge, My wife and I were too busy with other arrangements for that but next time........ We watched the deep sea boat catch a tuna right in front of us off the reef. They were no more than 500 metres away. It gets very deep immediately the reef ends. Then they tacked around and repeated the whole process. From no flag up to tuna flag and the repeat flag in 30 minutes! Next day another boat catches a sailfish in the same place, right in front of us. Oh boy if only we'd had a video camera. The whales also jumped and splashed for us each day. Didn't need to fish, what with all that and the diving with 50+m (yes metres) vis I just couldn't believe everything I saw. Funniest thing I ever saw was a woman waiting to catch a bus with three tuna tied up in a tree and the bus comes along. Woman enters and sits down and bus driver fetches fish and lays them in the isle. Woman gets to stop and driver helps her unload fish! Thats where I want to retire to. Photos of snake eel soon - mine don't look anything like Kerrens though! Ross ------------- Fishing-4-all-NZ |
Posted By: 1000PA
Date Posted: 07 Aug 2003 at 1:48pm
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There you go, it's called a spotted snake eel. Taken in 2 metres of water. Quality poor as I was surprisd to see one in daytime in the open! Ross ------------- Fishing-4-all-NZ |
Posted By: Toad
Date Posted: 07 Aug 2003 at 11:20pm
| To tell the truth I dropped that baby snake eel accidently on purpose. Smudge told me that snake eels were perfectly safe to handle, that they don't bite, even though they look like miniature sea serpents. Straight after telling me this the snake eel swam directly to me. It was easy to pick up, but I did not try very hard to keep hold of it. I think Smudge wanted it for a livebait. |
Posted By: Kerren
Date Posted: 08 Aug 2003 at 7:22am
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Ross... Thanks for sharing.....but that one looks more like a sea snake as opposed to a snake eel?? When we lived in Fiji we used to get bulk sea snakes in about that depth...but they had more zebra like markings...tiny mouths and do not present much danger, but their venom is in the top 10 most deadly. ahhhhh...Rarotonga...what place to visit in the middle of the NZ's winter doldrums!...did you visit the game fishing club?? ------------- I am Kermit, Leader of Muppets Nov 05 |
Posted By: 1000PA
Date Posted: 08 Aug 2003 at 8:30pm
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I'm afraid I didn't make it to the game fishing club. I did go to the sailing club as we had an invite to meet up with some friends there. What a great group of folk, they know how to party! We even met up with folk I knew when I used to travel around the South Pacific. I've checked the ID form we bought over in Rarotonga and it states "Spotted Snake Eel - Myrichthys Maculosus - Ross ------------- Fishing-4-all-NZ |