The harlequin or banded snake eel (Myrichthys colubrinus) is a non-venomous, non-poisonous fish, which mimics a very venomous banded sea krait. Check out the previous post and imagine you are looking at these creatures from a distance away. What do you think? Can they be mixed up?

For the banded eel, the mimicry seems to work well. I found this gal on a reef not too far away from where the photo of the banded sea snake was taken. I used f/14 for a little bit more depth of field and 1/80s to compensate aperture. One flash on a medium-length arm from top slightly left.

When I first saw the eel from a distance I thought that it was a snake. However, when I approached it, I wondered why it was sitting relatively calm on sandy ground. The sea snakes I used to take pictures of, were very active and constantly on the go.

When I took the pictures, it became clear that the eel can easily hang out there forever. It doesn’t need to breathe air like the banded sea krait. So plenty of time to chill out on the reef and become Philippines next top model for interested photographers.