Umihebi (sea snake) - Umihebi (English spelling) snake eel

Japanese: ウミヘビ(海蛇) - ウミヘビ（英語表記）snake eel

A general term for marine fish belonging to the Ophichthidae family of the order Anguilliformes. They are widely distributed from the Kanto region southward, and about 30 species are known to inhabit the waters off Japan. Their bodies are cylindrical and slender, and as their name suggests, they resemble snakes, but their skin has no scales, which also makes them different from reptile sea snakes. They have no pelvic fins, and some species, such as the earthworm conger eel and the stringer sea snake, do not even have pectoral fins. Their caudal fins are also degenerate, and many do not have them at all. They live in tide pools, gravel bottoms, reefs, and slightly deeper sandy and muddy bottoms in the intertidal zone, hiding in the shade or on the seabed during the day and becoming active at night.

Umihebi (sea snake)

A general term for venomous snakes that spend their entire lives in the sea. They are often confused with sea snakes, which are fish, but they are actually reptiles that belong to the snake family. Sea snakes are called "sea cobras" because they have many similar characteristics to cobras and are thought to have evolved from terrestrial cobras. They are divided into the subfamily Hydrophiinae and the subfamily Laticaudinae of the Elapidae family. There are 53 species of sea snakes in 15 genera that are distributed in the warm waters of the Persian Gulf, the Indian Ocean, the Western Pacific Ocean, and Oceania, and some reach the Pacific coast of Central America.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

ウナギ目ウミヘビ科Ophichthidaeに属する海産魚の総称。関東以南に広く分布し，日本近海には約30種が知られている。体は円柱状で細長く，その名のようにヘビに似ているが，皮膚にうろこがなく，この点でも爬虫類のウミヘビとはおおいに異なる。腹びれはなく，ミミズアナゴ，ヒモウミヘビなどのように胸びれもないものがある。尾びれも退化し，まったくないものが多い。潮間帯の潮だまりや砂れき底，岩礁，やや深い砂泥底などにすみ，日中は物陰や海底に潜み，夜間活動する。

ウミヘビ【ウミヘビ(海蛇) sea snake】

一生を海で過ごす毒ヘビ類の総称。魚類のウミヘビと混同されることがよくあるが，爬虫類のヘビの仲間である。ウミヘビ類は〈海のコブラ〉と呼ばれるように，形質がコブラ類と類似した点が多く，陸生のコブラ類から進化したものと考えられており，コブラ科のウミヘビ亜科Hydrophiinaeとエラブウミヘビ亜科Laticaudinaeに分けられている。ウミヘビ類は15属53種がペルシア湾，インド洋から西太平洋，オセアニアの暖かい海域に分布し，一部が中央アメリカの太平洋沿岸に達している。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

<<: Hydra (Sea Snake)

>>: Sea cypress (Macrorhynchia phoenicea)