Author: (Richardson, 1848)
Pisodonophis semicinctus (Richardson, 1848)
Status in World Register of Marine Species:
Accepted name: Pisodonophis semicinctus (Richardson, 1848) (updated 2009-06-25)
Diagnosis: body elongate, snake-like, almost cylindrical. Inter-orbital region convex; snout slightly prominent, lips very developed. Anterior nostril opening near tip of snout in a small tube directed downward; posterior nostril opening on upper lip, below eye, in a pore covered by a flap and invisible when mouth closed. Teeth molariform (slight bevelled points) multiserial on jaws and vomer. Gill openings lateral, slightly crescentiform. Dorsal and anal fins well developed (may fold into a deep groove); dorsal fin origin distinctly anterior to gill opening; pectoral fins well developed, with 10-11 rays; caudal fin absent, caudal extremity hardened. Lateral line with 53-59 preanal pores, 10-12 prepectoral; no supra-temporal pores. Vertebrae: total 155-162; abdominal 63-70. Colour: yellowish, lighter ventrally with 15-18 saddlelike dark patches over body and nape; head with rounded black patches of various sizes; pectoral fins yellowish. Size: to 80 cm.
Habitat: benthic on the shelf in sand at 10-30 m. Food: small crustaceans and molluscs. Reproduction: no data; eggs and leptocephalus larvae unknown.
Distribution: eastern Atlantic northward to Morocco, also Mediterranean (Algerian coast). Elsewhere, southward to Angola.
Eggs, larvae and young stages. No data.
Otoliths (sagitta). No data.