What fish is this?

[vinhii]

Hahaha serious LOL

[Bluegroper]

Pike eel.

Looks similar to pike eel but the Common Pike eel is found right around Australia except southern coast

It's a type of marine eel. I think they are called serpent eels or short finned eels

I think first answer serpent eel is right or could be a worm eel both belong to the same family Ophichthidae(snake eels & worm eels)
Dont think it's Anguilla Australis (short finned eel)

Geoff

[poodoo]

Oh caught this on the same night. Some kind of eel?
(Sorry for the dodgy pix, thought it was a snake at first and didn't want to get too close)

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1374153555.151308.jpg

ImageUploadedByTapatalk1374153695.353664.jpg

Scary things, had a whole lot swim into a bait net I had once and just threw them back in.....wasn't sure if they were snake or eel when it was dark!

[ncr1]

Pike eel.

Looks similar to pike eel but the Common Pike eel is found right around Australia except southern coast

It's a type of marine eel. I think they are called serpent eels or short finned eels

I think first answer serpent eel is right or could be a worm eel both belong to the same family Ophichthidae(snake eels & worm eels)
Dont think it's Anguilla Australis (short finned eel)

Geoff

Thanks Geoff, I didn't know about the distribution of the pike eel when I made that call - just thought it looked 100% pike eel. But then I started looking what else it could be, but nothing else matched up. It looks similar to a serpent eel, but the head shape is different. Then I looked at the australian museum website and they showed that pike eels have been recorded from Victoria, even though this isn't there natural range (http://australianmuseum.net.au/Common-P ... anan-1822/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;). Looks like this catch may be a bit more rare and interesting than first thought!

[Bluegroper]

Thanks Geoff, I didn't know about the distribution of the pike eel when I made that call - just thought it looked 100% pike eel. But then I started looking what else it could be, but nothing else matched up. It looks similar to a serpent eel, but the head shape is different. Then I looked at the australian museum website and they showed that pike eels have been recorded from Victoria, even though this isn't there natural range (http://australianmuseum.net.au/Common-P ... anan-1822/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;). Looks like this catch may be a bit more rare and interesting than first thought![/quote]

Yeah your right it does look more similar than Ophisurus Serpens (serpent eel) but not fully convinced due to distribution but not saying no, and your completely right by saying it could be unique or a rare sighting of this pike eel that has migrated further then it's normal distribution.

I'm always wary about the distribution shown by the australian museum links as they state from sightings and specimens. I wasn't able to open the blue dot distributions but specimens can be from interstate or from other countries. For example the "Museum of Victoria" only has two records or specimens for this species. One from Indonesia and one from Mallacoota back in 1991 right below the edge of its distribution. Whereas the same vic museum has the serpent eel has 41 records/specimens most of them from Vic.

Other "common eels" to Vic that belong to serpent eel/worm eel family are below and have mouth/nose similar to the unidentified species (pike eel in aus museum pic has a bent nose don't think above has)
Shortfin worm eel (Scolecenchelys Australis)
Shorthead worm eel (Scolecenchelys breviceps)

Would help if i could see fins then I could narrow it down further

All this talk about eels makes me want to go get or buy some Unagi! :dinner:

Anyway well done on being resourceful and trying to identify it. It's never easy especially with eels and only having a head to identify.

Geoff