Muraena retifera
Reticulate Moray
Collection Details
Specimens
Photos
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Anguilliformes (True Eels)
Muraenidae (Morays)
Muraena
Muraena retifera (Reticulate 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
Elongate and laterally compressed posteriorly; snout moderate length and subconical; jaws elongate; anterior nostril tubular; posterior nostril tubular and above anterior margin of eye; eye moderate size and centered above midgape of jaws; teeth strong, pointed with smooth edges, and uniserial in adults; upper jaw with 7-14 large, triangular teeth; lower jaw with 12-19 teeth; intermaxillary teeth with outer series of 5 or 6 stout teeth and median series of 2 or 3 depressible fangs; vomerine teeth 7-17 and separated from intermaxillary teeth; gill openings small, slitlike, and at midbody depth; head pores: 4 infraorbital, 3 supraorbital, 6 mandibular, and 2 branchial; snout 16-22%, eye 7-12%, and upper jaw 38-50% of head length; head length 12-16%, predorsal length 7-13%, preanal length 43-50%, depth at gill openings 5.3-11%, and depth at anus 5.2-10% of TL; total vertebrae 128-135, predorsal vertebrae 4-6, and preanal vertebrae 52-58
Color pattern of close-set rosettes of light brown blotches on medium brown to blackish background; blotches peppered with small white dots; head brown with white spots; gill openings surrounded by black blotch
Distribution
Western Atlantic from North Carolina to Florida and eastern Gulf of Mexico off Florida
Habitat Associations
Depth range: 21-91 m
Biology
Maximum known size: 895 mm TL
Females mature between 535 and 895 mm TL
Known only from moderate depths along outer continental shelf.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2011-08-18. Resilience: Medium (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Phylogeny and Morphologically Similar Fishes
Distinguished from other species of the family by the combination of characters
References
Williams and Shipp 1980
C. R. Robins et al. 1986
E. Bohlke et al. 1989
Boschung 1992
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.
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.
Kells, V. and K. Carpenter (2011) A field guide to coastal fishes from Maine to Texas. The Johnson Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Maryland.
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