Fishes That Are Mistaken To Be Snakes
Kuhli loach/ Coolie Loach Kuhli Loach is one of the most common freshwater fish that looks like a snake you may encounter. It’s a colorful, eel-shaped fish with four pairs of barbels around its mouth and tiny fins. Its dorsal fin starts behind the middle of its body, while an anal fin well beyond this point marks the end to its tail.
Ophichthidae/Snake eel The Ophichthidae family is a group of fish that are known as snake eels and can be found in temperate to tropical waters around the world. This genus was given its name from Greek “Ophis” (serpent) and ichthys (“fish”) because they look like snakes, having long cylindrical bodies with scales on their skin.
Snakehead Snakeheads are freshwater fish of the family Channidae, order Channiformes. They can be recognized by their snake-like head shape and elongated body with long fins that resemble a snakeskin pattern.
Reedfish/Ropefish The Reedfish (Erpetoichthys calabaricus), also known as snakefish or ropefish, is from the family of bichir. It’s a beautiful creature that can survive in very oxygen-poor water. It possesses lungs rather than gills and has the ability to live on land or underwater for extended periods.
Bichir The bichirs and the Reedfish comprise the family of archaic-looking ray-finned fish, Polypteridae. They are the only families in order Polypteriformes. Found only in freshwater habitats in tropical Africa and Nile River system, mainly swampy floodplains or estuaries.
Mastacembelus erythrotaenia/Fire eel “Mastacembelus erythrotaenia,” also known as “Fire eel,” is another popular freshwater aquarium fish that look like snake. The fire eel is a fantastic fish that comes in many colors, shapes, and sizes. They have spines on their body’s dorsal surface, which make them look like they’re wearing a suit of armor! The coloration varies from olive to bright yellow and can be stripped or blotched with black markings.
Pipefish Pipefishes or pipe-fishes are a subfamily of small fishes that look like snakes, which, together with the seahorses and seadragons, form the family Syngnathidae. The pipefish looks like a straight-bodied seahorse with tiny mouths.
Hagfish Hagfish are eel-shaped, slime-producing marine fish that dates back to 300 million years ago. Hagfish have a skull but no vertebral column like most animals with such anatomy do, and their sister group is the jawed vertebrates, including humans. It’s a saltwater fish that looks like a snake.
Zebra moray The zebra moray is a medium-sized fish with an average length of 50 cm. However, it can grow up to 150cm long. It is one of the most beautiful and unique-looking fish out there. The body has a zebra pattern with dark brown to black colors, contrasted by white stripes on top, and has the common name “zebra.”
Eelpouts Eelpouts are small fish that have a more elongated and laterally compressed body. Their heads are relatively smaller than other average marine creatures, but their eyes can still shine bright! They also produce Vivianite which turns them green in color, so you better watch out for this sneaky little guy when he’s near water sources!