These photos are of two different individuals, but they are among the coolest eels I’ve seen during diving. The Napoleon Snake Eel (Ophichthus bonaparti) gets to about two and a half feet long and lives in sandy burrows (as you can see from mostly just its head sticking out of the sand). I was trying to figure out why it got this name, but I can’t seem to find anything. Sometimes species are named for rulers out of respect or because they commissioned the expedition, but in this case the eel was named in 1856 – thirty-five years after Napoleon’s death. So your guess is as good as mine…
