Uropterygius macularius
Marbled Moray
Collection Details
Specimens
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Records
Taxonomic Hierarchy
Actinopterygii (Ray-finned Fishes)
Anguilliformes (True Eels)
Muraenidae (Morays)
Uropterygius
Uropterygius macularius (Marbled Moray)
Description
This species account was compiled from
Composite (multiple sources) (Carpenter, K.E. (ed.) 2002. The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. FAO Species Identification Guide for Fishery Purposes. FAO, Rome.)
and processed using AI-assisted text extraction.
It may contain errors in spelling, punctuation, or formatting.
When citing, please reference the original source rather than this page.
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Characters
Sm all to medium-sized eels, the largest species reaching 1.8 m, but most less
than 1 m. Body stout to elongate, anus usu ally well in front of midbody. Head variable. Eye well developed
to reduced. Snout may be short and blunt or moderately elongate. Mouth usu ally large, gape extending behind
rear margin of eye; lips without a fleshy flange; jaws nearly equal, sometimes snout projects slightly beyond
lower jaw and sometimes vice versa. Anterior nostril tubular, near tip of snout; posterior nostril on side of snout,
at or below mideye level. Teeth usu ally sm all and conical, in 1 to several rows on jaws and vomer; some
species have enlarged, compound teeth on vomer, but large fangs never present. Gill openings low on
body, below pectoral fins (when present); sometimes the gill openings of the 2 sides united in a ventral
slit. Dorsal and anal fins well developed, confluent with caudal fin. Pectoral fins present or absent. Scales
present or absent. Lateral line variable, often complete, sometimes reduced to a few pores at anterior end
and sometimes no pores at all. Colour: plain brown or grey, sometimes countershaded. No distinctive mark-
ings.
Simenchelys parastica (Simenchelyinae) Synaphobranchus kaupi (Synaphobranchinae)
Dysomma anguill are (Ilyophinae) Dysomma brevirostre (Ilyophinae)
Body shape: eel-like. Usually mottled, sometimes uniformly dark, always has pale marks on head and pale rims on sensory pores on head (Ref. 26938).
Distribution
Western Atlantic: southern Florida (USA), Bahamas, and Yucatan, Mexico to northern Brazil.
Habitat Associations
Synaphobranchids are benthic eels, some living in very deep water. Simenchelys is a scavenger, feeding on dead fish and sometimes burrowing into the carcass; this habit led to
the mistaken idea that it is a parasite. Synaphobranchines are more generalized predators, living on sm all
fishes and invertebrates. Most synaphobranchines live in fairly deep water, and some species are quite com-
mon in their depth range. Ilyophines, with a few exceptions, are r are and seldom seen. Many of them seem to
live in specialized habitats that are difficult to sample. The Ilyophinae is the most speciose subfamily, judging
from the great variety of leptocephali that have been collected; most of these larvae can not be identified with a
known adult, indicating that many species still await disc overy.
Biology
Found usually on or near coral reefs in up to 30 m depth, but occasionally to 137 m.
Max length: 30.0 cm TL.
IUCN Red List Status: Least Concern (LC), assessed 2011-08-18. Resilience: Medium (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Commercial or Environmental Importance
Synaphobranchids are of little or no importance
to fisheries, although they are sometimes taken in deep trawls.
References
Robins, C.H. and C.R. Robins. 1989. Family Synaphobranchidae. In Fishes of the Western North Atlantic, edited by E.B. Böhlke. Mem. Sears Found. Mar. Res., 1(9):207-253.
Robins, C.R., R.M. Bailey, C.E. Bond, J.R. Brooker, E.A. Lachner, R.N. Lea and W.B. Scott (1991) Common and scientific names of fishes from the United States and Canada. Am. Fish. Soc. Spec. Publ. (20):183 p.
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.
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