ANIMAL SPECIES:Common Pike Eel, Muraenesox bagio (Hamilton-Buchanan, 1822)
The Common Pike Eel occurs throughout the Indo-Pacific on soft-bottomed estuaries and coastal waters. It's nocturnal, feeding on benthic fishes and crustaceans.
Alternative Names/s
Common Pike CongerIdentification
The Common Pike Eel has an elongate body that lacks scales. It has long slender jaws and large pointed teeth at the front of the lower jaw and on the vomer. The vomerine teeth are triangular in lateral view and have straight leading edges.
Size range
The Common Pike Eel grows to about 1.8 m in length.Similar Species
The Common Pike Eel can be distinguished from the Darkfin Conger Eel, Muraenesox cinereus, by its narrower head and differences in the number of dorsal fin rays, vertebrae and pores in the lateral line. The Darkfin Conger Eel is restricted to tropical waters from north-western Western Australia to the Gulf of Carpentaria.Distribution
It occurs throughout the Indo-Pacific.
In Australia it is known from south-western Western Australia, around the tropical north of the country and south to the southern coast of New South Wales.
Distribution by collection data
Biomaps map of Common Pike Eel specimens in the Australian Museum collection.
Habitat
The species occurs in soft-bottomed estuaries and coastal waters down to about 100 m in depth.
Classification
- Species:
- bagio
- Genus:
- Muraenesox
- Family:
- Muraenesocidae
- Class:
- Actinopterygii
- Subphylum:
- Vertebrata
- Phylum:
- Chordata
- Kingdom:
- Animalia
References
- Smith, D. G. 1999. Muraenesocidae. in Carpenter, K.E. & V.H. Niem (Eds). FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes. The Living Marine Resources of the Western Central Pacific. Volume 3. Batoid fishes, chimaeras and bony fishes part 1 (Elopidae to Linophrynidae). FAO, Rome. Pp. iii-vi, 1398-2068.
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A Common Pike Eel caught at Lake Curalo View full size
Ian Merrington
© Ian Merrington, DPI Fisheries
Head of a Common Pike Eel caught at Lake Curalo View full size
Ian Merrington
© Ian Merrington @ DPI Fisheries
Vomerine teeth of a Common Pike Eel View full size
Ian Merrington
© Ian Merrington, DPI Fisheries
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