Living in the Baltic Sea

Habitat
Murky bottoms at 30-200 m depths. It buries itself in the sand and lives in Y-shaped tubes in the mud and rises to the surface at night where it falls prey to pelagic fish.
Food
They feed on bottom dwelling invertebrates like tiny crustaceans and small mussels.

Spawning
Age: 3 years old
Season: December - January
Number of eggs: 600 - 1 100

The reproduction takes place when it is about 20 cm long. The eggs, that are demersal and adhesive, hatch after about 4-6 weeks. The larvae are very slender but of considerable size at hatching. They lack dorsal and anal fin rays. A distinctive feature of the Snake Blenny larvae is the presence of a large black pigment dot at the base of each pectoral fin, and of a double row of 6 to 9 black dots along the dorsal surface of the intestine.

Human impact and Status
There is no significant fishing of this species. Snake Blennys are, however, sometimes a by catch when trawling for shrimp. They are then thrown back dead or dying into the sea. Major threats are eutrophication and habitat loss, as they inhabit relatively clean and well oxygenated deep water areas. Snake Blenny is now considered rare and is highly sensitive to human activities. It is an important food for large predators, for example cod. Necessary conservation measures would mainly include a reduction of eutrophication of the Baltic Sea. CLOSE