Spotted moray eel
| Spotted moray eel | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Spotted Moray Eel ( Gymnothorax moringa ) |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Gymnothorax moringa | ||||||||||||
| ( Cuvier , 1829) |
The spotted moray eel ( Gymnothorax moringa ) occurs in the tropical and subtropical western Atlantic from North Carolina via Bermuda to the coast of southern Brazil . She also lives in the Caribbean , the Gulf of Mexico , Cape Verde and the central southern Atlantic around the islands of Ascension and St. Helena . It inhabits mainly coral and rock reefs , as well as seagrass meadows at depths of up to 30 meters.
features
According to various sources, the spotted moray is one to two meters long, and the animals at Ascension are said to be three meters long. Their body is slender and of a whitish to light beige color and covered by numerous, partly overlapping, brown to purple spots. The inside of the mouth is purple, the eyes white or yellow. Gender differences are not known.
Way of life
Spotted moray eels are solitary and usually spend the day hidden in caves and crevices. Occasionally, however, especially in the afternoon, they swim around freely and hunt with other predatory fish. They are both nocturnal and diurnal and feed on fish, especially young snapper and parrotfish , crabs and shrimp . It is itself eaten by the Nassau grouper ( Epinephelus striatus ), as well as the snappers Lutjanus apodus and Lutjanus jocu . The reproductive biology of the spotted moray is unknown.
literature
- Hans A. Baensch , Robert A. Patzner: Mergus Sea Water Atlas, Vol. 6: Non-Perciformes (non-perch-like) as well as butterfly and angelfish . Mergus-Verlag, Melle 1999, ISBN 3-88244-116-X .
- Ewald Lieske, Robert F. Myers: Coral fish of the world ("Collins Pocket Guide to Coral Reef Fishes", 1994). Jahr-Verlag, Hamburg 1994, ISBN 3-86132-112-2 .
- Maren Baumeister, Werner Baumeister: Marine fauna, Caribbean and Florida . Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-8001-4164-7 .
Web links
- Muräne spotted on Fishbase.org (English)