Gymnothorax pictus

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gymnothorax pictus
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Actinopterygii
Order: Anguilliformes
Family: Muraenidae
Genus: Gymnothorax
Species: G. pictus
Binomial name
Gymnothorax pictus
(Ahl, 1789)

Gymnothorax pictus is a moray eel whose common names are peppered moray and paintspotted moray. The Chamorro name of the eel is títugi.[1]

Description

The species is pale and has purplish specklings. The specklings gather together with age. When the species is young, the species have no spots or bars. The young are pale purplish with a white belly.[2] The maximum length of the species is 140 centimeters. The species eat small fish and crustaceans.[3] The species is similar to Gymnothorax griseus.[4] While hunting for prey, the species may be completely out of the water or they may leap out of water.[5] The species is dangerous to eat because they are poisonous.[6]

Taxonomy

The species was named and described by Solander in an unpublished manuscript. Richardson said that the fish might be Muraena siderea. Richardson later proved that the fish were different by pointing out the difference in coloration. When the names were published as separate species, it was unknown if they were really different species. The name that Kuep gave Gymnothorax pictus was Sidera pantherina. Blecker later changed the name to its current name. The reason why the name is still the same is because of all three people's work.[7]

Habitat

The species can commonly be found in tropical marine waters of the Indo-Pacific and from islands of the tropical Eastern Pacific. The species can also be found in very shallow water on reef flats.[8] Places that the species have been found at include Suva Reef, the Fiji Islands,[9] Clarion Island, and the Revillagigedo Islands.[10]

References

  1. ↑ Topping, Donald M.; Pedro M. Ogo; Bernadita C. Dungca (1975). Chamorro-English Dictionary. University of Hawaii Press. pp. 204, 251. 
  2. ↑ Bulletin of the Bureau of Fisheries, Volume 25. The Bureau, Govt. Print. Off. 1906. p. 198. 
  3. ↑ "Gymnothorax pictus (Ahl, 1789)". FishBase. Retrieved 2010-01-24. 
  4. ↑ Multiple authors (2004). Coastal fishes of Southern Africa. NISC (PTY) LTD. p. 104. ISBN 978-1-920033-01-9. 
  5. ↑ S. Grove, Jack; J. Lavenberg, Robert (1997). The fishes of the Galápagos Islands. Stanford University Press. p. 159. ISBN 978-0-8047-2289-6. 
  6. ↑ Multiple authors (1990). A color atlas of dangerous marine animals. CRC Press. p. 156. ISBN 978-0-8493-7139-4. 
  7. ↑ Academy of Natural Sciences. Proceedings of The Academy of Natural Sciences (Vol. 152, 2002). Academy of Natural Sciences. p. 94. ISBN 978-1-4379-5551-4. 
  8. ↑ "Peppered Moray, Gymnothorax pictus (Ahl, 1789)". Australian Museum. Retrieved 2010-01-24. 
  9. ↑ Harvard University. Museum of Comparative Zoology (1901). Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology. The Museum. p. 239. 
  10. ↑ Multiple authors (1905). Shore fishes of the Revillagigedo, Clipperton, Cocos and Galapagos islands. The Academy. p. 347. 
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.