muçum

muçum

The muçum (Synbranchus marmoratus), also called muçu, snakefish or sweetwater eel, is a black-and-white teleost fish of the Sinbranchidae family, found in rivers, lagoons (even very small) and South American reservoirs.

Etymology

«Muçum» comes from the term tupi mu'su or mu'sim, which in Portuguese means "slippery".

Characteristics

The species is devoid of scales, even fins and swimming bladders, giving rise to a marked resemblance to the ophids, or to "eels" (Anguliia, Anguillidae, from the Northern Hemisphere). In some species, the skin is gray in young individuals and yellowish in adult individuals. In others, it is totally glossy black, and secretes large amounts of mucus.

In periods of drought, it lives for months buried in tunnels, also possessing the capacity to undergo sexual reversion (Sequential Hermaphroditism). It has nocturnal habits and is omnivore, feeding on worms and other invertebrates, small fish, slime, larvae and vegetables.

It is commonly used as bait for fishing (as the "tuvira" or sarapó ", Gymnotus carapo, Gymnotidae) and as human food.