Species: Ophichthus frontalis, Death-banded snake-eel

Ophichthus frontalis (Garman, 1899)

Death-banded snake-eel

Elongate but relatively robust, body height < 7% of length, slightly compressed; head large, ~ 14% of TL; tail 54-59% or more of TL; eye large, about over middle of mouth; front nostril tubular, long under snout; rear nostril tubular, on upper lip near eye; snout overhanging; mouth large; teeth pointed, small, 2 rows on jaws, 1 row on front of roof of mouth; gill openings wide (twice length of pectoral fin base), vertical, low on sides; dorsal origin over rear ¼ of pectoral fin; tip of tail a blunt, finless point; pectoral fin well developed, rounded, ~ 29% of head length, base short, opposite and above upper half of gill opening; lateral line not abruptly arched at rear of head.

Back with dark bars as wide as snout and wider than interspaces, bars becoming darker after death; no dark spots along lower jaw; tail tip, anal fin + edge of pectoral dark.

Size: 86 cm.

Habitat: sand and mud bottoms.

Depth: 35-760 m.

Central Baja, the Gulf of California; Costa Rica to Ecuador.