Rice-paddy eel
Pisodonophis boro
- Usual depth0–26 m
- Water temperature18–30 °C
- Best monthsJanuary and May
- How commonRare
About this species
The rice-paddy eel is an eel in the family Ophichthidae. It was described by Francis Buchanan-Hamilton in 1822, originally in the genus Ophisurus. It is a tropical, marine eel which is known from the Indo-West Pacific, including Somalia, Tanzania, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Polynesia, Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Kenya, Madagascar, the Philippines, Malaysia, Mozambique, Seychelles, Saudi Arabia, Taiwan, China, Thailand, Vietnam, and southern Yemen. It is an anadromous species and spawns in freshwater, often in rice paddies during the rainy season, earning it its common name. It also spends time in lagoons, estuaries and coastal rivers, in which it lives in burrows in the river bottom and bank. Males can reach a maximum total length (TL) of 100 centimetres, but more commonly reach a TL of 70 cm.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Rice-paddy eel”, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Read the article
Where and when
Where it has been recorded
Worldwide
Loading the map
Best months
Worldwide (open data)
- January: 14 records
- February: 1 records
- March: 0 records
- April: 8 records
- May: 9 records
- June: 4 records
- July: 6 records
- August: 7 records
- September: 6 records
- October: 3 records
- November: 2 records
- December: 5 records
Depth and water temperature
Depth
Mostly recorded at 0–26 m · Deepest record: 90 m
Water temperature
Recorded in surface water of 18–30 °C
Names and classification
- English
- Rice-paddy eel, Bengal's Snake Eel, Estuary Snake Eel, rice-paddy eel
Names in 5 more languages
- Spanish
- Tieso arroz
- French
- Serpenton des rizières
- Japanese
- ゴマホタテウミヘビ
- Thai
- ปลาไหลงูใหญ่
- Simplified Chinese
- 波路荳齒蛇鰻
Other scientific names: Anguilla acuminata, Anguilla immaculata, Conger microstoma, Ophichthys boro, Ophisurus boro, Ophisurus caudatus, Ophisurus harancha, Ophisurus minimus, Ophisurus potamophilus, Ophisurus rostratus, Ophisurus vermiformis, Pisodonophis assamensis, Pisodontophis bora, Pisoodonophis boro
Similar species
- Longfin snake-eel
Pisodonophis cancrivorus
- Saddled snake-eel
Leiuranus semicinctus
- Harlequin snake-eel
Myrichthys colubrinus
- Tiger snake-eel
Myrichthys maculosus
Stargazer Snake EelBrachysomophis cirrocheilos
Marbled snake eelCallechelys marmorata
Sources and credits
Names and taxonomy: WoRMS (CC BY 4.0) and the GBIF Backbone (CC BY 4.0). Photos: iNaturalist observers, each under the licence shown (CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA).
- Depth, temperature, months and maps: records from OBIS and GBIF under CC0 or CC BY.
- Descriptions: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA, each linked to its article.
- Conservation status as published by GBIF (IUCN Red List).
- 171 open-data records from 1822 to 2023.
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