Enchelycore nigricans
Viper Moray
NS
GNR
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Anguilliformes (True Eels)
Muraenidae (Morays)
Enchelycore
Enchelycore nigricans (Viper 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
Relatively elongate, moderately stout, and compressed, with slender, elongate, arched jaws and anus slightly anterior to midlength. Snout is long and narrow. Jaws close only at tips. Anterior nostril is tubular. Posterior nostril is round or oval and located above eye in young and greatly elongate and located in front of eye in adults. Eye is large and centered at midpoint of jaws. Jaw teeth are conical and sharp, with those of outer row small and recurved and those of inner row long, slender, and depressible. Intermaxillary teeth consist of outer ring of 13 to 19 alternating large and small teeth; intermediate series of long, depressible canines; and inner series of 3 or 4 long, depressible fangs. Vomerine teeth are small and in single row. Gill openings are small and slitlike, and located at about midbody depth. Head pores are developed and consist of four infraorbital, three supraorbital, six mandibular, and two branchial, although numbers of pores increase with growth. Snout is 15% to 21%, eye is 7.7% to 12%, and upper jaw is 37% to 52% of head length. Head length is 11% to 14%, predorsal length is 10% to 13%, preanal length is 45% to 50%, depth at gill openings is 3.8% to 6.3%, and depth at anus is 3.6% to 5.8% of TL. Total vertebrae number 141 to 148, predorsal vertebrae number 6 to 10, and preanal vertebrae number 58 to 63.
Small specimens are pale, with brownish bands and streaks forming polygonal-shaped blocks, and dark areas between eyes and dark nuchal band. Large specimens are uniformly dark brown or dark with faint, darker marblings.
Distribution
Bermuda, the Bahamas, the Florida Keys, on offshore reefs in the Gulf of Mexico
offshore reefs in the Gulf of Mexico
Habitat Associations
tropical and sub-tropical Atlantic Ocean, from near shore to 24 m
offshore reefs
Biology
Maximum known size is 930 mm TL
females mature between 548 and 707 mm TL
A benthic and solitary species (Ref. 26340) common on shallow reefs and along rocky shores. Caught incidentally and consumed fresh or salted in some localities (Ref. 3255).
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2011-08-16. Resilience: Low (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
distinguished from the other species of the family by the combination of characters described
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Fisheries: subsistence fisheries.
References
Bohlke and Chaplin 1968
Bright and Cashman 1974
Castro-Aguirre and Marquez-Espinoza 1981
E. Bohlke et al. 1989
Smith, D.G. and E.B. Böhlke (1990) Muraenidae. p. 136-148. In J.C. Quero, J.C. Hureau, C. Karrer, A. Post and L. Saldanha (eds.) Check-list of the fishes of the eastern tropical Atlantic (CLOFETA). JNICT, Lisbon; SEI, Paris; and UNESCO, Paris. Vol. 1.
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.
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.
Feitoza, B.M., L.A. Rocha, O.J. Luiz-Júnior, S.R. Floeter and J.L. Gasparini (2003) Reef fishes of St. Paul's Rocks: new records and notes on biology and zoogeography. aqua, J. Ichthyol. Aquat. Biol. 7(2):61-82.
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