Snake worship she sold herself to a man named Gonga no Tayu, who (unbeknownst to Sayohime) intended to sacrifice her to the snake deity of his village in place of his own daughter. When presented to the snake, Sayohime read from the Lotus sutra, enabling the deity to achieve enlightenment and shed its monstrous form. The deity then returned Sayohime to the care of her mother. In Australia, various Aboriginal mythologies tell of a huge python, known by a variety of names but universally referred to as the Rainbow Serpent, that was said to have created the landscape, embodied the spirit of
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.