All fish / Ophichthidae

Tiger Snake Eel

Myrichthys maculosus

Also known as spotted snake eel, tiger snake eel, leopard snake eel, spotted eel, clouded snake eel, snake eel, モヨウモンガラドオシ, belut ular tutul, 斑竹花蛇鳗, 斑点蛇鳗

This is a long, cylindrical eel with a pale cream to yellowish body covered in large, round black spots, and a pointed, finless tail tip that it uses to dig backwards into sand. Keepers like it for its striking pattern and its habit of resting with only the head showing out of the substrate.

Care at a glance

Care level

Moderate

Temperament

Semi

Adult size

70 cm

Temperature

23 to 28 °C

pH

8.1 to 8.4

Smallest tank

400 litres

Keep as

Keep singly

Diet

Carnivore: shrimp, squid, clams, fish pieces and other meaty frozen foods

Swims

Bottom of the tank

Lifespan

10 years or more

Water

Marine (saltwater)

Wild range

Indo-Pacific and Red Sea, from East Africa to Hawaii and French Polynesia

Breeding

It spawns in open water and has a long-lived leptocephalus larva drifting in the plankton. It has not been bred in home aquariums.

Good to know

Adults can reach around 1 m, so it needs a deep, soft sand bed and a tight lid because it escapes easily. It will eat small fish, shrimps and crabs, and it is easily mistaken for the larger, more harmful harlequin snake eel, Myrichthys colubrinus, which has bands rather than spots.