| Muraenidae (Moray eels), subfamily: Muraeninae |
| 20 cm TL (male/unsexed) |
|
demersal; marine; depth range 1 - 22 m |
| Indo-West Pacific: Maldive Is. and Sri Lanka to Thailand, Indonesia, northern Australia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, New Britain, Palau, and the Solomon Is. |
|
Vertebrae: 111-116. This species is small size in size (to about 20.0 cm TL) is distinguished by the following characters: dorsal-fin origin is before the gill opening; maxillary teeth are biserial; branchial pores 2; total vertebrae 111-116. Colouration: body plain brown, without dark grooves on throat and posterior part of head (Ref. 132087).
Description: Characterized by medium to dark greyish brown color of body and fins; body depth at gill opening 14-20 in TL; origin of dorsal fin closer to gill opening than corner of mouth; anus anterior to middle of the body; preanal length 2.0-2.3 in TL; smooth, short and stout biserial jaw teeth, larger inner row teeth than those of outer row; no canines; three rows of intermaxillary teeth, largest outer row teeth; two short stout teeth in median row; small and uniserial vomerine teeth (Ref. 90102). |
| Found in coral reefs in 1-15 m (Ref 90102); in shallow water, but with the deepest collection site at 22 m. This small species is distinctly smaller than Gymnothorax arabicus, largest of 84 specimens reported by Böhlke (2000) was only 18.2 cm TL while the living individual from Sri Lanka (USNM 451459) measures approximately 20.0 cm, it has not grown beyond this size in four years. Reported length of a ripe female was 12.3 cm TL, and a specimen of 14.8 cm TL (USNM 210269) was noticeably swollen and contained large eggs (Ref. 132087). |
|
Least Concern (LC); Date assessed: 18 August 2011 Ref. (130435)
|
| harmless |
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