Echidna catenata
Chain Moray
Collection Details
Specimens
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Anguilliformes (True Eels)
Muraenidae (Morays)
Echidna
Echidna catenata (Chain Moray)
Description
This species account was compiled from
Composite (multiple sources) (McEachran, J.D. and J.D. Fechhelm. Fishes of the Gulf of Mexico. University of Texas Press, Austin.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
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Characters
Moderately elongate and laterally compressed posteriorly, with a short, blunt snout and rather short jaws that close completely. Snout is subconical and broad. Jaws are subequal. Anterior nostril is tubular and near tip of snout. Posterior nostril is small and round, has raised crenate margin, and is open above anterior margin of eye. Eye is moderate in size and located at midpoint of upper jaw. Jaw teeth are molariform or conical and biserial to multiserial, with maxillary tooth rows shorter than lower jaw tooth rows. Upper jaw has 1 anterior median tooth, 6 to 11 teeth on each side, and one to three median rows of large teeth in intermaxillary series and two short rows of maxillary teeth. Lower jaw has two short rows of teeth, with those of outer row blunt and numbering 9 to 11 and those of inner row pointed and numbering 4 to 8. Vomerine teeth are conical to molariform and in two rows of 4 to 11 teeth anteriorly and a single row of 1 to 4 posteriorly. Gill openings are small, slitlike, and midlateral. Head pores are developed, small, and consist of three supraorbital, four infraorbital, six mandibular, and two branchial. Snout is 15% to 20%, eye is 7% to 10%, and upper jaw is 28% to 37% of head length. Head length is 12% to 14%, preanal length is 53% to 57%, depth at gill openings is 5.5% to 7.9%, and depth at anus is 5% to 7.3% of TL. Total vertebrae number 114 to 122, predorsal vertebrae number 5 to 7, and preanal vertebrae number 56 to 61.
Highly variable and consists of contrasting reticulations forming chainlike pattern. Ground color is brown to black, with pale yellow to white narrow chains. Pale chain pattern varies in relative width of chains.
Distribution
Bermuda and southern Florida to the southwestern Gulf of Mexico, including the Dry Tortugas, Florida
Southwestern Gulf of Mexico
Habitat Associations
Shallow water—less than 2 m—around reefs and rocky areas
Reefs and rocky areas
Biology
Crustaceans (primarily small crabs) and small fishes
Maximum known size is 710 mm TL
Males mature between 438 and 618 mm TL, and females mature between 475 and 680 mm TL
A benthic and solitary species (Ref. 26340) found commonly on reefs and rocky shore areas. Feeds on small fishes and crustaceans (Ref. 5521). At Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, off NE Brazil, forages for sally lightfoot crabs (Grapsus grapsus) on exposed reefs at ebb tide and in tide-pools mostly at daytime. Able to withstand up to 30 minutes out of water while foraging, uses four main tactics both in and out of the water. Searches for prey at pool rims and rock bases poking into crevices and holes, stealthily approaches previously sighted prey, chases prey and ambushes prey from under rocks and crevices. Hunting success varies with employed tactic, but overall success is about 50%. May move up to 6 meters in about 1 hour while foraging on the exposed reef. Its crab hunting is mostly visually guided and a fish darting nearby a stealthily foraging moray may cause it to miss the strike; the missed crab may be chased up to 5 m on the reef. Able to strike with its body partly or entirely out of the water, usually strikes from a distance of 5 to10 centimeters. Small crabs are swallowed whole, whereas larger ones are torn apart by a combination of tugging, rotating, knotting, and thrashing movements. Handling time is related to prey size, the largest crabs (carapace width 2.3-3.2 times larger than moray’s head width) broken up and swallowed within 90 to 240 seconds. Attracted to plastic or rubber decoys dragged on a nylon string nearby, striking at these (Ref. 50922).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2011-08-16. Resilience: Very low (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
Distinguished from other species of the family by the combination of characters described
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: minor commercial; aquarium: commercial.
References
Randall 1968
C. R. Robins et al. 1986
Bohlke and Chaplin 1968
E. Bohlke et al. 1989
Randall, J.E. (1967) Food habits of reef fishes of the West Indies. Stud. Trop. Oceanogr. Miami 5:665-847.
Robins, C.R. and G.C. Ray (1986) A field guide to Atlantic coast fishes of North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, U.S.A. 354 p.
Lieske, E. and R. Myers (1994) Collins Pocket Guide. Coral reef fishes. Indo-Pacific & Caribbean including the Red Sea. Haper Collins Publishers, 400 p.
Claro, R. (1994) Características generales de la ictiofauna. p. 55-70. In R. Claro (ed.) Ecología de los peces marinos de Cuba. Instituto de Oceanología Academia de Ciencias de Cuba and Centro de Investigaciones de Quintana Roo.
Smith, C.L. (1997) National Audubon Society field guide to tropical marine fishes of the Caribbean, the Gulf of Mexico, Florida, the Bahamas, and Bermuda. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., New York. 720 p.
Charter, S.R. and H.G. Moser (1996) Muraenidae: morays. p. 88-91. In H.G. Moser (ed.) The early stages of fishes in the California Current region. California Cooperative Oceanic Fisheries Investigations (CalCOFI) Atlas No. 33. 1505 p.
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