Caduceus is a continuation of the older Indo-European dragon-slayer motif. Wilhelm Heinrich Roscher (1913) pointed out that the serpent as an attribute of both Hermes and Asclepius is a variant of the "pre-historic semi-chthonic serpent hero known at Delphi as Python", who in classical mythology is slain by Apollo. One Greek myth of origin of the caduceus is part of the story of Tiresias, who found two snakes copulating and killed the female with his staff. Tiresias was immediately turned into a woman, and so remained until he was able to repeat the act with the male snake seven years later.
Fintail serpent eel Fintail serpent eel The fintail serpent eel (Neenchelys buitendijki, also known commonly as the spotted worm-eel in India) is an eel in the family Ophichthidae (worm/snake eels). It was described by Max Carl Wilhelm Weber and Lieven Ferdinand de Beaufort in 1916. It is a marine, tropical eel which is known from the Indian Ocean, including Pakistan, India, Indonesia, and Vietnam. It inhabits burrows in soft sediments, and leads a nocturnal lifestyle. Males can reach a maximum total length of 30 centimetres. The fintail serpent eel is of minor commercial interest to fisheries, and is primarily used for fishing bait.