It resembles a snake but it is a legless lizard or almost. In fact, it lacks the anterior limbs but the rear ones are vestigial and look like a small fin. How not to get confused with a snake? The scales are not so evident as in snakes. Ophiodes's skin seems smoother. It has moveable eyelids which snakes lack.
This lizard is viviparous, giving birh to living chicks in summer. The females are bigger than the males when considering the snout-vent length. But the males have bigger heads.
Just like other lizards they can break off part of their tail as a defense mechanism to distract the predator.