Common Name
Polygon Moray
Year Described
Poey, 1875
Identification
Body elongate yet robust with well developed dorsal and anal finfolds. Trunk a little shorter than tail. Head tapers anteriorly. Snout blunt. Jaw closes completely. Teeth smooth. A single row of strong teeth in the upper jaw. Roof of mouth with a single row of teeth. Lower jaw with a single row of strong teeth. Anterior nostril is a small tube. Rear nostril an external, slightly raised opening above anterior margin of eye. Eye large. Throat region grooved. Gill opening a simple hole. Dorsal origin well anterior to gill opening. Fins confluent around tail. Vertebral formula: 5-53-138.
Color
Body brown with a pattern closely spaced polygon-shaped rosettes giving a overall look of close-set reticulations within a pattern of larger brown reticulations. Pattern continues onto dorsal fin with brown wedges at regular intervals and a thin pale margin. Eye yellow.
Size
Maximum size to 84cm TL.
Habitat
A deepwater species taken from 90-270m. Probably found around rocky hard bottom substrates.
Range
Scattered records from North Carolina to Florida, off the Yucatan, Cuba, the Lesser Antilles, Brazil, and Trindade Island.
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.
Gasparini, J.L., & S.R. Floeter, S.R. 2001. The shore fishes of Trindade Island, western south Atlantic. Journal of Natural History, 35(11), 1639-1656.
Other Notes
Closest in pattern to Muraena retifera, from which it can be separated by the shape of the rear nostril and lack of round white spots.