The Confirmed Occurence of Serpent Eel Ophisurus serpens in Saros Bay (Northern Agean Sea), Turkey

Abstract

One mature female specimen of serpent eel Ophisurus serpens (Linnaeus, 1758) was caught by long line by a professional fisherman at a depth of about 45 m from Ece Bight, Saros Bay, north Aegean Sea on 15 February 2016. The species was previously reported without any morphometric and meristic characters from Saros Bay. Some biological characters, such as age and diameters of otolith and oocytes, are also given. In this study, the detailed morphomeristic features, which can contribute to the taxonomic studies of serpent eel from Turkish Seas, are presented.