Common Name
Broadbanded Moray
Year Described
Richardson, 1845
Identification
Body large, robust, and thickened. Low dorsal and anal fin-folds restricted to the tail. Trunk much longer than tail. Head tapers abruptly anteriorly. Jaw closes completely. Jaws quite long, wide, and dramatically underslung. Multiple dense rows of small pointed teeth on upper jaw; in three distinct patches of small teeth. Lower jaw with three bands of small teeth. Anterior nostril is a small tube. Rear nostril an external opening above anterior margin of eye. Eye large and noticeably closer to snout tip than rear margin. Skin heavily grooved. Gill opening a simple slit. Tail tip hardened.
Color
Body ranges from dirty brown, red-brown, or gray with indistinct darker bands to distinctly banded with 13-16 equally spaced black bands. First band is on the rear of the head and incomplete. Younger fish have more dramatic banding with pale edging. The skin grooves are darker than body color. Eye yellowish.
Size
Maximum size to 150cm TL.
Habitat
A deeper dwelling species found mostly on rocky reefs up to 100m depth.
Range
Known mostly from insular localities from Bermuda to the Caribbean islands and the Brazilian oceanic islands.
References
Böhlke, E.B. 2002. Muraenidae (pp 700-718). In: Carpenter. 2002. The living marine resources of the Western Central Atlantic. Vol. 32: Bony fishes part 1 (Acipenseridae to Grammatidae). FAO Species Identification Guides for Fisheries Purposes. American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists Special Publication No. 5.