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Animal coloration serves a variety of functions, including communication and camouflage. We quantified hue, luminance, countershading, and pigmentation pattern of the California moray eel Gymnothorax mordax and determined whether coloration was correlated with the environmental variables of the kelp forest ecosystem. The California moray is an elongate, predatory, crevice-dwelling fish that does not rapidly change color. We photographed morays trapped at a variety of depths in 4 environmentally diverse sites around the Two Harbors isthmus on Catalina Island, California, USA. Depth, substrate type, cover type, horizontal visibility, and reef rugosity were recorded for the environment surrounding each trapped eel. We found that eels were lighter, redder, and yellower in shallow habitats with high percentages of sand, bare substrate, and seagrass. In habitats with greater substrate diversity, clearer water, and a higher percentage of boulder, morays were darker, greener, and bluer. Despite their benthic, crevice-dwelling behavior, we found that all individuals exhibited countershading, which was most extreme at the head and tail. Pigment spots became larger and more uniform in size as standard length increased, but few other size- or age-related color changes were found. We found little evidence that coloration is correlated with foraging success and instead speculate that coloration is established post-settlement in smaller size classes not examined in this study. This work shows that California morays exhibit a range of colorations and that hue and luminance are correlated with environmental variables in the Two Harbors region of Catalina Island.

Surprisingly, little is known about basic life history of the largest moray eel species in the Caribbean region, the green moray eel (Gymnothorax funebris). Sixteen eels were captured from the mangrove fringe in multiple bays on St. Croix, USVI, implanted with coded acoustic transmitters, and their movements were tracked for up to 11 months using an array of 37 stationary acoustic receivers. They exhibited high site fidelity in the bays during their residence, using the same general parts of individual bays and did not switch bays except for one individual. There was no relationship between eel size (mean TL = 83 cm, range = 54–126 cm) and home range size (mean area of 95% KUD = 5.8 ha ± 0.7 SE). Most individuals were more frequently detected at night than during the day suggesting greater nocturnal activity. Several of the larger eels (mean TL = 93 cm ± 5.9 SE) showed clear and permanent emigration tracks out of the mangrove estuary to coral reef habitats offshore. For some individuals, these habitat shifts were preceded by exploratory movements away from the eel’s typical home range the night before emigration. All final emigration events took place nocturnally, happened during a single night, and occurred during months from December to May. Mean emigration speed was 3.4 km/h. This study is the first documentation of an ontogenetic habitat shift in moray eels, as well as the first determination of home range size for this species and their site fidelity in mangrove habitats.

Gymnothorax poikilospilus Chen & Huang, sp. nov. Common name: Variegated moray eel (Figs. 1, 2) urn:lsid:zoobank.org:act: 855F9025-193E-4B0E-9118-C217166CDADF Holotype. TOU-AE 0645, 768 mm TL, female, off Hsiao-men fishing harbor (23°39'N, 119°29'E), Xi-yu Township, Penghu Islands, Taiwan, ca. 10–20 m depth, trap of PVC tube, 10 June 2002, coll. Captain Ping Hong. Paratype. TOU-AE 5112, 868+ mm TL, tail tip lost, female, collected with the holotype. Diagnosis. A medium-sized moray with typical muraenid shape, anus at mid-point of body. Dorsal fin high. Eyes above mid-jaw. Jaws slightly arched and can’t completely close. Cephalic sensory pores small. Teeth uniserial, slender and pointed. Body brown or gray-brown with several rows of large dark brown patches on back of body and dorsal fin. Patches obscure during daytime and becoming obvious at night. Dorsal head dark brown and spotless. Fins with fine greyish-white margins when alive but invisible in preservation. Inner skin of nostrils and head pores whitish. Oral cavity uniform brown. Throat grooves darkish. Iris of the eye reddish-brown. Predorsal vertebrae 4, preanal vertebrae 57–59, total vertebrae 141. Description. Proportions in percent of TL for holotype: tail length 50.3, trunk length 34.8, head length 14.5, depth at gill opening 8.3, depth at anus 7.2. Proportions in percent of HL for holotype (paratype): predorsal length 60.0 (58.0), length of upper jaw 46.3 (47.8), length of lower jaw 46.8 (47.7), interorbital width 11.1 (11.7), snout length 17.9 (18.5), eye diameter 8.7 (8.3). Predorsal vertebrae 4 (4), preanal vertebrae 57 (59), total vertebrae 141 (137+) (Table 1). A medium-sized moray with typical muraenid shape, body stout, anus at mid-point of body. Dorsal fin high, originating anterior to gill opening. Anal fin shallow, its origin immediately behind anus. Gill opening slightly below lateral midline, opening as a hole, about size of eye in diameter. Eyes above mid-jaw. Jaws slightly arched and can’t completely close, teeth visible when mouth closed, jaws subequal in length. Snout acute and moderately elongate. Anterior nostril at tip of snout, as short tube shorter than eye radius in length, without folds on the anterior tip. Posterior nostril above and slightly anterior to front margin of eye, as an oval pore with raised rim. Cephalic sensory pores small, their number within range of typical muraenids (Fig. 3). Three supraorbital pores, first at tip of snout below level of anterior nostril; second immediately above base of anterior nostril; third along margin of snout above level of horizontal middle line of eye. Four infraorbital pores, first immediately below and posterior to anterior nostril base; second about at anterior one-third of distance between anterior nostril base and anterior margin of eye, slightly posterior to third supraorbital pore in horizontal; third below anterior margin of eye; fourth below posterior margin of eye. Six preoperculo-mandibular pores along lower jaw before corner of mouth; in holotype, pores arranging differently between left and right jaws but amounting the same number (Fig. 4). Two branchial pores on posterior-dorsal head, posterior to dorsal-fin origin and anterior to gill opening. Teeth slender and pointed, slightly retrorse, edge without serration (Fig. 4). Peripheral intermaxillary teeth uniserial, 6 (6–9) large canines on each side with small teeth in intervals; teeth becoming larger posteriorly. Median intermaxillary teeth uniserial, with 3 (3) tall and spaced teeth, second tooth longest. Maxillary teeth uniserial, with 18–19 (20) triangular and recurved teeth on each side, anterior most 1–2 teeth very small, following by 2–4 sharply increase-sized teeth flanked by several tiny teeth; remaining teeth gradually decreasing in size, smallest at posterior end. Vomerine teeth almost invisible, only one very small and stout tooth left in holotype, with four sockets of missing teeth. No visible vomerine teeth in paratype. Dentary teeth uniserial, with 27 (30–31) teeth on each side, anterior most 5–7 teeth obviously larger and flanked by some tiny teeth; size of remaining teeth subequal centrally and becoming much smaller at posterior end. Body brown or gray-brown in ground color, with several rows of inconspicuous large dark brown patches on back of body and dorsal fin. Ventral parts of head and trunk slightly lighter. Dorsal head dark brown without blotch. Throat grooves darkish. Inner skin of nostrils and head pores whitish. Color of oral cavity similar to head. Iris of the eye reddish-brown. Body color variable when alive. During daytime, body almost uniform brown, dark patches obscure; during nighttime, ground color turning lighter and dark patches becoming obvious (Fig. 5), fins with fine greyish-white margins (Fig. 6). Preserved color similar to fresh, pale margins of fins and dark patches nearly invisible. Distribution. Currently only known from the type locality Penghu Islands. Biology. From 10 June 2002, we had reared the holotype in our laboratory's aquarium until 4 February 2005, it accidentally crawled out of the aquarium at night and died. We dissected the holotype and found that there were many mature eggs in its abdominal cavity (Fig. 7). The mature eggs were between 0.8–1.2 mm in diameter, and the batch fecundity was about 20,000 eggs. Under microscope observation, there was the other immature egg group in its ovaries, the diameters of oocytes were about 0.15–0.26 mm. We also reared the paratype until its death on 22 September 2008. Under the microscope, its gonads belonged to immature ovaries, and there were 2 groups of oocytes with different egg diameter interval ranges: the larger group was 0.17–0.26 mm, and the smaller group was 0.07–0.13 mm. We fed these two specimens with fish and squid meat. Etymology. The specific name is from the Greek poikilo (varied, variegated) and the Greek spilos (a spot, stain), in reference to its varied body markings between daytime and nighttime. COI analyses. After alignment and trimming, 612 bp of COI sequences were left for analyses. The topology of ML tree reveals that each species is positioned in a monophyletic clade and separated from others (Fig. 8). The genus Enchelycore is not monophyletic, conforming with previous studies based on different mitochondrial genes (Tang & Fielitz 2013; Smith et al. 2019). The inter- and intra-species K2P genetic distances are 9.8–22.5% and 0.1–0.7%, respectively (Table 2). Gymnothorax poikilospilus is most closely related to E. schismatorhynchus, however, with an 11.4% K2P distance which far exceeds the general intraspecific variation of moray eels (Huang et al. 2018), confirming its validity. Remarks. Although the new species has arched jaws that can’t close completely, it is placed under the genus Gymnothorax instead of Enchelycore according to the following reasons: (1) the extents of elongation and arching of its jaws are much lower than species of the genus Enchelycore (Fig. 9); (2) its maxillary and dentary teeth are uniserial (vs. mostly biserial in Enchelycore). While hard to quantify the extent of elongated and arched jaws in Enchelycore, this characteristic could further reflect on the narrowing of the anterior part of head, including the interorbital width. According to our unpublished data, the interorbital width of Enchelycore ranges from 7.8–10.4% of HL (based on one E. bayeri, two E. lichenosa, two E. pardalis, and four E. schismatorhynchus), comparing to>10% of HL in most species of Gymnothorax. The new species has an interorbital width of 11.1–11.7% of HL which is completely within the range of Gymnothorax. In addition, arched jaws can also be found in several non- Enchelycore species, such as Enchelynassa canina and Gymnothorax eurostus, suggesting it might not be an appropriate diagnostic characteristic. On the other hand, we found that the largest examined Enchelycore schismatorhynchus (949 mm TL) has much fewer maxillary and dentary teeth compared to smaller specimens (510–642 mm TL) (maxillary teeth 15–17 vs. 29–31; dentary teeth 28–29 vs. 37–44), and all series of its teeth are arranged in single rows (vs. biserial of maxillary and dentary teeth in smaller specimens). Considering ambiguous morphological characters and the genetically non-monophyly of the genus Enchelycore, we temporarily designate the new species under the genus Gymnothorax. Further systematic research is needed to verify the validity of Enchelycore. Gymnothorax poikilospilus is morphologically most similar to Enchelycore schismatorhynchus, G. monochrous, and G. pseudothyrsoideus, three sympatric morays that possess gray-brown body color and pale margins on fins (Fig. 10). It differs from E. schismatorhynchus by the wider interorbital width (11.1–11.7% vs. 8.9–10.4% of HL), fewer predorsal (4 vs. 5–6) and preanal vertebrae (57–59 vs. 61–63), and the color of the tip of anterior nostrils (uniform brown vs. dark brown). It can be distinguished from G. monochrous by more dentary teeth (27–31 vs.16–25), and more total vertebrae (141 vs. 130–138). Lastly, G. poikilospilus is different from G. pseudothyrsoideus by having more maxillary (18–20 vs. 11–17) and dentary teeth (27–31 vs. 19–24), and more total vertebrae (141 vs. 130–135). Aside from morphometric and meristic characters, the obviously arched jaws make G. poikilospilus unique when compared with G. monochrous and G. pseudothyrsoideus; and the lack of the prominent white fin margin makes G. poikilospilus distinguishable at a glance when side by side with E. schismatorhynchus (Fig. 10). Furthermore, the pale fin margins of the three similar species are still visible in preservation while completely disappearing in G. poikilospilus. Gymnothorax poikilospilus can be excluded from the four synonyms of E. schismatorhynchus (Eurymyctera crudelis Kaup, 1856, Muraena congeroides Bleeker,1860, Muraena hemprichii Klunzinger, 1871, and Rhinamuraena eritima Jordan & Seale, 1906) by the dentition (uniserial vs. biserial maxillary and dentary teeth) and the color of fin margin (brown vs. white); and be excluded from the only synonym of G. pseudothyrsoideus, Gymnothorax makassariensis Bleeker, 1863, by more maxillary teeth (18–20 vs. 14–15) and more dentary teeth (27–31 vs. 20–23) (Böhlke & Smith 2002). Gymnothorax poikilospilus can be easily distinguished from other three similar species of Gymnothorax by having more outer maxillary teeth (18–20 vs. 10–18 in G. cinerascens, 9–16 in G. hepaticus, and 11–16 in G. longinquus), more outer dentary teeth (27–31 vs. 12–22, 12–21, and 18–22), and more total vertebrae (141 vs. 128–135, 128–132, and 128–134) (Smith et al. 2019; Huang et al. 2020). It can also be simply separated from the three Indo-Pacific jaw-arched brown morays (viz. Enchelycore bayeri, Enchelycore bikiniensis, and Enchelynassa canina) by using a single characteristic of uniserial maxillary and dentary teeth (vs. biserial in other three species) (Böhlke & Smith 2002; Loh et al. 2012; Smith et al. 2019). Comparative materials. Enchelycore schismatorhynchus. four specimens, 510–949 mm TL. Taiwan: DOS 07936 (1, 510 mm), Changbin, Taitung; DOS 08729 (1, 949 mm), Chenggong, Taitung; NMMB-P007074 (1, 642 mm), Checheng, Pingtung; NMMB-P015637 (1, 640 mm), Liuqiu, Pingtung. Gymnothorax monochrous. seven specimens, 557–891 mm TL. Philippines: DOS 06828 (4, 557– 784 mm), Bogo, Cebu. Taiwan: DOS 06376 (1, 758 mm), Donggang, Pingtung; DOS 07127 (1, 891 mm), DOS 08281 (1, 666 mm), Magong, Penghu Islands. Gymnothorax pseudothyrsoideus. five specimens, 400–876 mm TL. Taiwan: DOS 07943 (3, 564– 876 mm), Eziliao, Kaohsiung; DOS 08038 (1, 635 mm), Qianzhen, Kaohsiung; DOS 08076 (1, 400 mm), Datan, Taoyuan., Published as part of Huang, Wen-Chien, Loh, Kar-Hoe & Chen, Hong-Ming, 2022, Gymnothorax poikilospilus, a new moray eel (Teleostei: Anguilliformes: Muraenidae) from Penghu Islands, western Taiwan, pp. 87-102 in Zootaxa 5189 (1) on pages 88-97, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5189.1.11, http://zenodo.org/record/7119280, {"references":["Tang, K. L. & Fielitz, C. (2013) Phylogeny of moray eels (Anguilliformes: Muraenidae), with a revised classification of true eels (Teleostei: Elopomorpha: Anguilliformes). Mitochondrial DNA, 24 (1), 55 - 66. https: // doi. org / 10.3109 / 19401736.2012.710226","Smith, D. G., Bogorodsky, S. V., Mal, A. O. & Alpermann, T. J. (2019) Review of the moray eels (Anguilliformes: Muraenidae) of the Red Sea, with description of a new species. Zootaxa, 4704 (1), 1 - 87. https: // doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 4704.1.1","Huang, W. C., Nguyen, V. Q. & Liao, T. Y. (2018) First record of the snowflake-patched moray Gymnothorax niphostigmus Chen, Shao, & Chen, 1996 (Anguilliformes; Muraenidae) in Vietnam and its validity confirmed by DNA barcoding. Journal of Applied Ichthyology, 34 (3), 687 - 690. https: // doi. org / 10.1111 / jai. 13684","Kaup, J. J. (1856) Uebersicht der Aale. Archiv fur Naturgeschichte, 22, 41 - 77. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. part. 11240","Bleeker, P. (1860) Achtste bijdrage tot de kennis der vischfauna van Sumatra (Visschen van Benkoelen, Priaman, Tandjong, Palembang en Djambi). Acta Societatis Scientiarum Indo-Neerlandicae, 8 (art. 2), 1 - 88.","Klunzinger, C. B. (1871) Synopsis der Fische des Rothen Meeres. II. Theil. Verhandlungen der kaiserlich-Koniglichen Zoologisch-Botanischen Gesellschaft in Wien, 21, 441 - 688. https: // doi. org / 10.5962 / bhl. title. 14760","Jordan, D. S. & Seale, A. (1906) The fishes of Samoa. Description of the species found in the archipelago, with a provisional check-list of the fishes of Oceania. Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Fisheries, 25 [for 1905], 173 - 455 + index 457 - 488, pls. 33 - 53.","Bleeker, P. (1863) Sur quelques especes nouvelles ou peu connues de Gymnothorax Bl. de l'Inde archipelagique. Nederlandsch Tijdschrift voor Dierkunde, 1, 167 - 171.","Bohlke, E. B. & Smith, D. G. (2002) Type catalogue of Indo-Pacific Muraenidae. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 152 (1), 89 - 172. https: // doi. org / 10.1635 / 0097 - 3157 (2002) 152 [0089: TCOIPM] 2.0. CO; 2","Huang, W. C., Thu, P. T. & Liao, T. Y. (2020) A new record of the long moray, Gymnothorax longinquus (Actinopterygii: Anguilliformes: Muraenidae), from southern Vietnam, supporting the uncertain record in the Gulf of Thailand. Acta Ichthyologica Et Piscatoria, 50 (2), 201 - 207. https: // doi. org / 10.3750 / AIEP / 02790","Loh, K. H., Shao, K. T. & Chen, H. M. (2012) Additions to the Taiwan marine eel fauna with first records of three rare moray eels (Anguilliformes: Muraenidae). Journal of Marine Science and Technology, 20 (2), 210 - 215. https: // doi. org / 10.51400 / 2709 - 6998.1840"]}

Five specimens of Gymnothorax longinquus (Whitley, 1948) were collected from a fish market and a fish landing site in Tac Cau and Ha Tien, southern Vietnam. These specimens represent the first record of G. longinquus in Vietnam, and further support a previously uncertain record in Thailand. The specimens collected are described and illustrated. Gymnothorax longinquus may prefer muddy shallow water from northern Australia to the Gulf of Thailand.

Fishes of family Muraenidae, popularly known as moray eels, are one of the most diverse groups among true eels. Gymnothorax is the most predominant genus in terms of diversity along Indian coastline (31 species including recent description and distributional records), but they rarely form the fishery of commercial importance. Gymnothorax dorsalis, species of elongated unpatterned moray eels characterized by eight to nine pre-dorsal vertebrae, three infraorbital pores and low dorsal and anal fin united with caudal fins is reported for the first time from the west coast of India. Gymnothorax reticularis, reticulated patterned eel with 18–19 vertical dark bars, five pre-dorsal vertebrae and 10–11 vomerine teeth is also reported for the first time from the northwest coast of India.

Gymnothorax mordax (Ayres, 1859). California Moray. To 152 cm (5 ft) TL (Miller and Lea 1972). Point Conception, California to Todos Santos (23��24.6���N, 110��13.8���W), southern Baja California (John Snow, pers. comm. to M.L.), including Isla Guadalupe, central Baja California (Reyes-Bonilla et al. 2010), and Rocas Alijos (Personal communication: Scripps Institution of Oceanography Fish Collection, La Jolla, California). A specimen reported from Clipperton Island (Personal communication: Scripps Institution of Oceanography Fish Collection, La Jolla, California) was misidentified (Katherine Dale and Arturo Ram��rez, pers. comm. to M.L.), and one from Nicaragua (Personal communication: Scripps Institution of Oceanography Fish Collection, La Jolla, California) is a leptocephalus. Early-stage larvae have been taken around Cabos San Lucas, in the lowermost part of the Gulf of California (on both sides), and down the Mexican mainland as far south as Mazatl��n (William Watson, pers. comm. to M.L.). Beltr��n-Le��n and Rios Herrera (2000) tentatively identified larvae captured off Colombia as this species. Benthic; depth: lower intertidal to 40 m (131 ft) (min.: Ruiz-Campos et al. 2010b; max.: Eschmeyer and Herald 1983)., Published as part of Love, Milton S., Bizzarro, Joseph J., Cornthwaite, Maria, Frable, Benjamin W. & Maslenikov, Katherine P., 2021, Checklist of marine and estuarine fishes from the Alaska-Yukon Border, Beaufort Sea, to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, pp. 1-285 in Zootaxa 5053 (1) on page 33, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5053.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/5578008, {"references":["Miller, D. J. & Lea, R. N. (1972) Guide to the coastal marine fishes of California. California Department of Fish and Game Fish Bulletin, 157.","Reyes-Bonilla, H., Ayala-Bocos, A., Gonzalez-Romero, S., Sanchez-Alcantara, I., Mendoza, M. W., Bedolla-Guzman, Y. R., Ramirez-Valdez, A., Calderon-Aguilera, L. E. & Olivares-Banuelos, N. C. (2010) Checklist and biogeography of fishes from Guadalupe Island, western Mexico. CalCOFI Reports, 51, 195 - 209.","Beltran-Leon, B. S. & Rios Herrera, R. (2000) Estadios Tempranos de Peces del Pacific Colombiano. Republica de Colombia. Instituto Nacional de Pesca y Acuicultura INPA.","Ruiz-Campos, G., Gonzalez-Guzman, S., Ramirez-Valdez, A., Gonzalez-Acosta, A. F., Castro-Aguirre, J. L. & de la Cruz-Aguero, J. (2010 b) Composition, density and biogeographic affinities of the rocky intertidal fishes on the western coast of the Baja California Peninsula, Mexico. CalCOFI Reports, 51, 210 - 220.","Eschmeyer, W. N. & Herald, E. S. (1983) A Field Guide to Pacific Coast Fishes of North America from the Gulf of Alaska to Baja California. Houghton Mifflin, Boston."]}

Gymnothorax flavimarginatus (R��ppell, 1830). Yellowmargin Moray. 124 cm (48.8 in) TL (Robertson and Allen 2008). Indo-Pacific; western Pacific Ocean north to Yonaguni-jima Island, Japan (Koeda et al. 2016); Bah��a Santa Maria, southern Baja California (Jonathan et al. 2015); tip of Baja California, Costa Rica to Panama and offshore islands (Robertson and Allen 2008). Benthic; depth: 0.5���150 m (2���492 ft) (min.: Smith et al. 2019; max.: Robertson and Allen 2008)., Published as part of Love, Milton S., Bizzarro, Joseph J., Cornthwaite, Maria, Frable, Benjamin W. & Maslenikov, Katherine P., 2021, Checklist of marine and estuarine fishes from the Alaska-Yukon Border, Beaufort Sea, to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, pp. 1-285 in Zootaxa 5053 (1) on page 33, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5053.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/5578008, {"references":["Robertson, D. R. & Allen, G. R. (2008) Shorefishes of the Tropical Eastern Pacific: an Information System. Version 1.0 (2008). Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa.","Koeda, K., Hibino, Y., Yoshida, T., Kimura, Y., Miki, R., Kunishima, T., Sasaki, D., Furukawa, T., Sakurai, M., Eguchi, K., Suzuki, H., Inaba, T., Uejo, T., Tanaka, S., Fujisawa, M., Wada, H. & Uchiyama, T. (2016) Annotated Checklist of Fishes of Yonaguni-jima Island, the Westernmost Island in Japan. Kagoshima University Museum, Korimoto, Kagoshima.","Jonathan, M. P., Aurioles-Gamboa, D., Campos Villegas, L. E., Bohorquez-Herrera, J., Hernandez-Camacho, C. J. & Sujitha, S. B. (2015) Metal concentrations in demersal fish species from Santa Maria Bay, Baja California Sur, Mexico (Pacific coast). Marine Pollution Bulletin, 99, 356 - 361. https: // doi. org / 10.1016 / j. marpolbul. 2015.07.032","Smith, D. G., Bogorodsky, S. V., Mal, A. O. & Alpermann, T. J. (2019) Review of the moray eels (Anguilliformes: Muraenidae) of the Red Sea with description of a new species. Zootaxa, 4704, 1 - 87. https: // doi. org / 10.11646 / zootaxa. 4704.1.1"]}

Gymnothorax dovii (G��nther, 1870). Fine-spotted Moray. 170 cm (66.9 in) TL (Robertson and Allen 2008). Isla de Cedros, central Baja California (Personal communication: California Academy of Sciences Fish Collection, San Francisco, California) to Gulf of California to Ecuador, and offshore islands including Islas Gal��pagos (Robertson and Allen 2008). Benthic; depth: intertidal to 160 m (525 ft) (min.: Personal communication: Scripps Institution of Oceanography Fish Collection, La Jolla, California; max.: S��nchez-Jim��nez et al. 2018)., Published as part of Love, Milton S., Bizzarro, Joseph J., Cornthwaite, Maria, Frable, Benjamin W. & Maslenikov, Katherine P., 2021, Checklist of marine and estuarine fishes from the Alaska-Yukon Border, Beaufort Sea, to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, pp. 1-285 in Zootaxa 5053 (1) on page 33, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5053.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/5578008, {"references":["Robertson, D. R. & Allen, G. R. (2008) Shorefishes of the Tropical Eastern Pacific: an Information System. Version 1.0 (2008). Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa.","Sanchez-Jimenez, A., Naranjo-Elizondo, B., Rodriguez-Arrieta, A., Quesada, A., Blum, S., McCosker, J. E., Robertson, D. R., Auster, P. J. & Cortes, J. (2018) Updated catalogue of bony fishes observed in deep waters at Isla del Coco National Park and Las Gemelas Seamount, Costa Rica (Eastern Tropical Pacific). Revista de Biologia Tropical, 66, (Supplement 5), S 1 - S 113. https: // doi. org / 10.15517 / rbt. v 66 i 5.34943"]}

Gymnothorax equatorialis (Hildebrand, 1946). Equatorial Moray or Spottail Moray. To 100 cm (39.4 in) TL (G��mez et al. 2014). Bah��a San Crist��bal, southern Baja California (27��37���N, 114��55���W) (Rodr��guez-Romero et al. 2008), Gulf of California (McCosker and Rosenblatt in Fischer et al. 1995) to Iquique, northern Chile (Sielfeld et al. 2010), including southern tip of Baja California (McCosker and Rosenblatt in Fischer et al. 1995). Benthic; depth: surface (Personal communication: Scripps Institution of Oceanography Fish Collection, La Jolla, California), 5���183 m (16���600 ft) (min.: Robertson and Allen 2002; max.: Personal communication: Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History Fish Collection, Los Angeles, California)., Published as part of Love, Milton S., Bizzarro, Joseph J., Cornthwaite, Maria, Frable, Benjamin W. & Maslenikov, Katherine P., 2021, Checklist of marine and estuarine fishes from the Alaska-Yukon Border, Beaufort Sea, to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, pp. 1-285 in Zootaxa 5053 (1) on page 33, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5053.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/5578008, {"references":["Gomez, S., Alejandro Caicedo, J. & Alonso Zapata, L. (2014) Captura de peces no comerciales con espinel experimental de fondo en Isla Gorgona, Colombia, y su area de influencia. Revista de Biologia Tropical, 62 (Supplement 1), 391 - 405. https: // doi. org / 10.15517 / rbt. v 62 i 0.16365","Rodriguez-Romero, J., Palacios-Salgado, D. S. & Gutierrez Sanchez, F. J. (2008) First record of the spottail moray Gymnothorax equatorialis (Anguilliformes: Muraenidae) off the west coast of Baja California Sur, Mexico. Marine Biodiversity Records, 1, 2 - 4. https: // doi. org / 10.1017 / s 1755267207007981","Fischer, W., Krupp, F., Schneider, W., Sommer, C., Carpenter, K. E. & Niem, V. H. (1995) Guia FAO para la identificacion para los fines de la pesca. Pacifico centro-oriental. Volume II, Vertebrados, Parte 1. Volume III, Vertebrados, Parte 2. FAO, Rome.","Sielfeld, W., Laudien, J., Vargas, M. & Villegas, M. (2010) El Nino induced changes of the coastal fish fauna off northern Chile and implications for ichthyogeography. Revista de Biologia Marina Oceanografia, 45, S 1, 705 - 722. https: // doi. org / 10.4067 / s 0718 - 19572010000400014","Robertson, D. R. & Allen, G. R. (2002) Shorefishes of the tropical eastern Pacific: an information system. CD-ROM. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Panama."]}

Gymnothorax verrilli (Jordan & Gilbert, 1883). White-edged Moray. To 43 cm (16.9 in) TL (McCosker and Rosenblatt in Fischer et al. 1995). Bah��a Magdalena, southern Baja California (Charter and Moser in Moser 1996); Chiapas, Mexico (Gonz��lez-Acosta et al. 2018) to Panama (Robertson and Allen 2015). Benthic; depth: intertidal to 18 m (60 ft) (min.: Robertson and Allen 2015; max.: Personal communication: Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History Fish Collection, Los Angeles, California)., Published as part of Love, Milton S., Bizzarro, Joseph J., Cornthwaite, Maria, Frable, Benjamin W. & Maslenikov, Katherine P., 2021, Checklist of marine and estuarine fishes from the Alaska-Yukon Border, Beaufort Sea, to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, pp. 1-285 in Zootaxa 5053 (1) on page 34, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5053.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/5578008, {"references":["Fischer, W., Krupp, F., Schneider, W., Sommer, C., Carpenter, K. E. & Niem, V. H. (1995) Guia FAO para la identificacion para los fines de la pesca. Pacifico centro-oriental. Volume II, Vertebrados, Parte 1. Volume III, Vertebrados, Parte 2. FAO, Rome.","Moser, H. G. (Ed.). (1996) The early stages of fishes in the California Current region. CALCOFI Atlas, No. 33.","Gonzalez-Acosta, A. F., Rodiles-Hernandez, R. & Gonzalez-Diaz, A. A. (2018) Checklist of the marine and estuarine fishes of Chiapas, Mexico. Marine Biodiversity, 48, 1439 - 1454. https: // doi. org / 10.1007 / s 12526 - 016 - 0630 - y","Robertson, D. R. and Allen, G. R. (2015) Shorefishes of the Tropical Eastern Pacific: an Information System. Version 2.0 (2008). Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa. http: // biogeodb. stri. si. edu / sftep / en / pages"]}

Gymnothorax castaneus (Jordan & Gilbert, 1883). Chestnut Moray or Panama Green Moray. To 155.2 cm (61.1 in) TL (Personal communication: Scripps Institution of Oceanography Fish Collection, La Jolla, California). Isla de Cedros, central Baja California (Robertson and Allen 2015), and Bah��a Magdalena, southern Baja California (Personal communication: Scripps Institution of Oceanography Fish Collection, La Jolla, California) to Ecuador (B��arez 1996), and perhaps to Chipana, northern Chile (Sielfeld 2010), including Gulf of California (McCosker and Rosenblatt in Fischer et al. 1995), and Islas Gal��pagos (Grove and Lavenberg 1997). Benthic; depth: intertidal to 101 m (3���331 ft) (min.: Castellanos-Galindo et al. 2014; max.: Personal communication: Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History Fish Collection, Los Angeles, California)., Published as part of Love, Milton S., Bizzarro, Joseph J., Cornthwaite, Maria, Frable, Benjamin W. & Maslenikov, Katherine P., 2021, Checklist of marine and estuarine fishes from the Alaska-Yukon Border, Beaufort Sea, to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, pp. 1-285 in Zootaxa 5053 (1) on page 33, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5053.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/5578008, {"references":["Robertson, D. R. and Allen, G. R. (2015) Shorefishes of the Tropical Eastern Pacific: an Information System. Version 2.0 (2008). Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa. http: // biogeodb. stri. si. edu / sftep / en / pages","Bearez, P. (1996) Lista de los peces marinos del Ecuador continental. Revista de Biologia Tropical, 44, 731 - 741.","Sielfeld, W., Laudien, J., Vargas, M. & Villegas, M. (2010) El Nino induced changes of the coastal fish fauna off northern Chile and implications for ichthyogeography. Revista de Biologia Marina Oceanografia, 45, S 1, 705 - 722. https: // doi. org / 10.4067 / s 0718 - 19572010000400014","Fischer, W., Krupp, F., Schneider, W., Sommer, C., Carpenter, K. E. & Niem, V. H. (1995) Guia FAO para la identificacion para los fines de la pesca. Pacifico centro-oriental. Volume II, Vertebrados, Parte 1. Volume III, Vertebrados, Parte 2. FAO, Rome.","Grove, J. S. & Lavenberg, R. J. (1997) The Fishes of the Galapagos Islands. Stanford University Press, Stanford.","Castellanos-Galindo, G. A., Giraldo, A. & Zapata, F. A. (2014) Tidepool fish assemblages of Gorgona Island, Colombian Pacific coast: a local and regional comparison). Revista de Biologia Tropical, 62 (Supplement 1), 373 - 390. https: // doi. org / 10.15517 / rbt. v 62 i 0.16362"]}

* Gymnothorax phalarus Bussing, 1998. Small-spotted Moray. To 93 cm (36.6 in) TL (Robertson and Allen 2002). Tip of Baja California and south-eastern Gulf of California to Peru (Robertson and Allen 2002). Benthic; depth: 25���933 m (82���3,060 ft) (min.: Robertson and Allen 2002; max.: Morera et al. 2019)., Published as part of Love, Milton S., Bizzarro, Joseph J., Cornthwaite, Maria, Frable, Benjamin W. & Maslenikov, Katherine P., 2021, Checklist of marine and estuarine fishes from the Alaska-Yukon Border, Beaufort Sea, to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, pp. 1-285 in Zootaxa 5053 (1) on page 34, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.5053.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/5578008, {"references":["Bussing, W. A. (1998) Freshwater fishes of Costa Rica. Revista Biologia Tropical, 46 (Supplement 2).","Robertson, D. R. & Allen, G. R. (2002) Shorefishes of the tropical eastern Pacific: an information system. CD-ROM. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Panama.","Morera, R. B., Calderon, F. C. & Hernandez, J. M. V. (2019) Abundancia, biomasa y estructura de la ictiofauna demersal en el oceano Pacifico de Centroamerica, basadas en datos de prospeccion pesquera realizados a bordo del B / W Miguel Oliver. Revista Ciencias Las Marinas y Costeras, 12, 27 - 47. https: // doi. org / 10.15359 / revmar. 12 - 1.2"]}

Gymnothorax aurocephalus Nashad, Mohapatra, Varghese & Bineesh sp. nov. (Figs. 1���6, Table 1) Common name: Goldenhead moray Holotype. EBRC /ZSI/ 11800, 723 mm TL, off Swaraj Dweep Island of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (12��39.3���N, 93��03.4���E), collected on-board MFV Blue Marlin on 21 May 2018, by vertical longlining, depth 125���130 m. Paratypes. EBRC /ZSI/11801, 1 specimen (745 mm TL), collection details same as holotype; ZSI / ANRC / M/24129, 1 specimen (710 mm TL), off Interview Island, middle Andaman (12��55.3���N, 92��40.2���E), 90 m depth, hand line; FSI/PB / T/01 /2019, 1 specimen (610 mm TL, tail broken), collection details same as holotype. Diagnosis: A moderately elongated moray eel of the genus Gymnothorax with the following combination of characters: chocolate brown color overlain with small irregular white spots, having golden skin shadings close to rictus; anus slightly before midbody; pointed and serrated teeth; uniserial teeth on jaws and vomer; vertebral formula 7/61/148���149 (Fig. 2). Description: A moderately sized eel with a cylindrical body and laterally compressed tail (Fig. 3). Dorsal and anal fins are continuous with caudal fin. Dorsal fin commences above the anterior edge of gill opening and the predorsal length is 7.2���7.8 in total length (TL). Anal-fin origin immediately behind anus. Anus is located slightly before midbody and the preanal distance is 1.9���2.0 in TL. Head is broad and head length (HL) is 7.0��� 7.9 in TL. Snout blunt, snout length is 4.7���5.2 in HL. Both jaws are almost equal in size. All teeth concealed when mouth is closed. Eyes small, located almost at the midpoint between the snout and the rictus, eye diameter 11.6���12.1 in head length. Anterior nostril tubular and at lateral side of tip of snout, posterior nostril above anterior margin of eye. Gill opening a diagonal slit at midbody level. Head pores small with body colored rim. Two branchial pores located anterior to and below dorsal-fin origin well before gill opening (Fig. 4); three supraorbital pores, first (ethmoid) pore at tip of snout above lip, second above base of anterior nostril, third in between anterior and posterior nostrils; four infraorbital pores, first just below the base of anterior nostril, second in between anterior nostril and anterior margin of eye, third below the anterior margin of eye, and fourth after posterior margin of eye. There are six mandibular pores, all before rictus. Teeth pointed and serrated, uniserial in both jaws (Fig. 5). Intermaxillary teeth 5 on each side with one near symphysis, totaling 11 intermaxillary teeth, followed by 8 maxillary teeth on each side, no median intermaxillary teeth. Vomerine teeth uniserial with 8 teeth in holotype; 4���8 in paratypes. Mandibular teeth 18 on each side gradually decreasing in size posteriorly. Color. The fresh specimens were chocolate brown in color, overlain with small, irregular white spots, having golden shadings close to rictus. The spots start from the snout tip and extend to the entire body including the ventral portion, gill opening, dorsal and anal fins. Both dorsal and anal fins have chocolate brown color similar to body. Head region bears numerous, densely packed golden spots. The spots are widely spaced posteriorly and are comparatively larger than the spots in the head region (Fig. 6). Inside the mouth, the coloration is similar to the body. Tail tip is almost devoid of spots and without any white margin. Distribution. The specimen is presently known only from the holotype and three paratypes from Swaraj Dweep Island and Interview Island, Andaman Sea, India from a depth of 90���130 m depth. Etymology. Gymnothorax aurocephalus is named for the golden-colored head of the species., Published as part of Nashad, M., Mohapatra, Anil, Varghese, Sijo P., Ramalingam, L. & Mohanty, Swarup Ranjan, 2020, A new white-spotted moray eel, Gymnothorax aurocephalus sp. nov. (Muraenidae Muraeninae) from Andaman Sea, India, pp. 361-372 in Zootaxa 4877 (2) on pages 363-366, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4877.2.8, http://zenodo.org/record/4424322

The Muraenidae is one of the largest and most complex anguilliform families. Despite their abundance and important ecological roles, morays are little studied, especially cytogenetically, and both their phylogenetic relationships and the taxonomy of their genera are controversial. With the aim of extending the karyology of this fish group, the chromosomal mapping of the 5S ribosomal gene family was performed on seven species belonging to the genera Muraena and Gymnothorax from both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) experiments were realized using species-specific 5S rDNA probes, in addition, two-colour FISH was performed to investigate the possible association with the 45S ribosomal gene family. Multiple 5S rDNA clusters, located either in species-specific or in possibly homoeologous chromosomes, were found. Either a syntenic or different chromosomal location of the two ribosomal genes was detected. Our results revealed variability in the number and location of 5S rDNA clusters and confirmed a substantial conservation of the number and location of the 45S rDNA.

Taiwan is one of the richest in the world in terms of eel fauna. In this study, we examined the osteological and morphological characteristics of eels in the family Muraenidae. Furthermore, we focused on the neurocranium of 34 muraenid species in the genera Echidna (2), Enchelycore (3), Gymnomuraena (1), Gymnothorax (25), Scuticaria (1), Strophidon (1), and Uropterygius (1), which are caught in Taiwanese waters. This paper shows the results of a comparative study on osteological characters of the neurocranium including the ratio of nine length characters and 20 diagnostic characters for 34 eel species in the family Muraenidae. The subfamily Uropterygiinae is distinguished from the subfamily Muraeninae in having the lowest value on the depth of mid pre-orbit due to the termination of the ethmoidal crest toward premaxilla. Moreover, aside from Gymnomuraena zebra, the species of subfamily Uropterygiinae have the lowest orbit length. These results in neurocranial comparative morphology between the species are consistent with their previous classification based on molecular results. These morphological and osteological characters may be valuable for taxonomic purposes and might be used as the basis for further studies on the status of genera in Muraenidae.

Synopsis The effectiveness of marine protected areas (MPAs) on the general health and conservation of species, habitats, and community interactions is of great interest to researchers, managers, and recreationalists. However, the ecological and behavioral diversity of vertebrate predators of southern California kelp forests limits our ability to make general conclusions about MPA effectiveness across a variety of species. Identifying and studying species with extreme feeding habits or prey-capture strategies may offer greater insight into predator–prey relationships and reveal the trophic importance of an animal in the larger community. Moray eels (family Muraenidae) have been shown to have morphological and behavioral adaptations that allow them to consume large prey whole, identifying them as important predators. From 2015 to 2018, we studied the health and feeding behavior of a long-lived, elusive, and benthic kelp forest predator, the California moray eel (Gymnothorax mordax). We trapped eels inside and outside of Blue Cavern Onshore State Marine Conservation Area, an MPA on the northwest side of Santa Catalina Island, CA which prohibits the take of any species. Over 4 years, we captured 1736 eels. Overall, we found that morays were longer, older, heavier, had higher body condition, and were found in greater abundance within the MPA. Although fish comprised the majority of their summer diet, morays outside of the MPA were consuming a more diverse set of fish, while kelp bass comprised more than half of the diet for morays inhabiting the MPA. Additionally, we found that morays within the MPA had larger relative vertical gape distances (VGDs) and narrower heads. Our recapture data support the high site fidelity of morays, indicating that their diet and morphology are influenced by their local community. While the majority of morays are thriving in the MPA, as suggested by their robust sizes and longevity, high abundance appears to result in higher frequencies of cannibalism, the presence of an undescribed disease, and lower growth rates. Our results suggest that the MPA affects the life history of morays and may select for an alternative feeding strategy in which eels develop larger VGDs, smaller adductor muscles, and a specialized diet which is presumably influenced by the local environment. In addition, observations of cannibalistic behavior and species-specific disease provide us with important insight into natural factors that may still regulate populations removed from anthropogenic disturbances such as fishing.

Gymnothorax unicolor (Delaroche 1809) ���Brown moray Taxonomy. First record from Lebanon as Gymnothorox unicolor (De la Roche 1809) by George et al. (1964: 13); subsequently recorded as Lycodontis unicolor (Delaroche) by Mouneimn�� (1977: 61); as Gymnothorax unicolor (Delaroche 1809) by Mouneimn�� (2002: 76). Material in collection: AUBM, FMNH (as Muraena unicolor) and USNM. Distribution. Mediterranean Sea, eastern Atlantic: Portugal to Azores, Madeira, Canary Islands; southern central Atlantic: Saint Helena. Conservation. IUCN: Global (LC: 20 October 2011); Med. (DD: 16 November 2007). Capture and threats: FIT, FIB, unknown. Occurrence: Common. Low priority for conservation action., Published as part of Bariche, Michel & Fricke, Ronald, 2020, The marine ichthyofauna of Lebanon: an annotated checklist, history, biogeography, and conservation status, pp. 1-157 in Zootaxa 4775 (1) on page 33, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4775.1.1, http://zenodo.org/record/3983887, {"references":["George, C. J., Athanassiou, V. A. & Boulos, I. (1964) The fishes of the coastal waters of Lebanon. Miscellaneous Papers in the Natural Sciences. The American University of Beirut, 4, 1 - 24.","Mouneimne, N. (1977) Liste des poissons de la cote du Liban (Mediterranee orientale). Cybium, 3 (1), 37 - 66.","Mouneimne, N. (2002) Poissons marins du Liban et de la Mediterranee orientale. INCAM-EU / CNRS Lebanon, Beyrouth, 271 pp."]}

Gymnothorax elaineheemstrae Sithole, Smith & Gouws n. sp. Common name: Marbled leopard moray Figs. 3, 5; Table 9 Lycodontis undulatus (non Lacepède 1803): Smith 1949: 398 (Fig. 1129, Pl. 100); Smith 1953: 398 (Fig. 1129, Pl. 100); Smith 1962: 439 (Fig. E, Pl. 57); Castle & McCosker 1986: 173 (Fig. 41.24, Pl. 8). Gymnothorax cf. undulatus: King & Fraser 2014: 34, 35 (Fig. unnumbered) Holotype: SAIAB 86307 (624 mm TL), South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal, Cape Vidal, 28°9.8'S, 32°34.1'E, 6 Jan. 2009, coll. A. Paterson, G. Musson and A. Goetz. Paratypes: SAIAB 206655 (383 mm TL), same as holotype; CSIRO H 8399-01 (304 mm TL), South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal, Pennington, tide pools in front of the golf course; 30°24'S, 30°42'E, 29 Jul. 1992; AMS I.48960- 001 (665 mm TL), South Africa, Eastern Cape, Coffee Bay, 32°00'S, 29°12'E, 20 Jan. 1976; USNM 330982 (454 mm TL), South Africa, Natal, Aug. 1992. Non-type material: SAIAB 46644 (2: 285–329 mm TL), South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal, Mbibi, 27°30'S, 32°42'E, 12 Dec. 1988; SAIAB 4990 (2: 325–343 mm TL) South Africa, Eastern Cape, Mtentwana Point, 31°06'S, 30°12'E, 15 Aug. 1958; SAIAB 83082 (710 mm TL) South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal, Scottburgh 30°00'S, 31°00'E, 05 Jun. 2007; SAIAB 44497 (485 mm TL) South Africa, Eastern Cape, Algoa Bay, 34°00'S, 25°42'E, 01 Jan. 1967; SAIAB 39939 (644 mm TL) South Africa, Eastern Cape, Transkei Presley Bay, 31°54'S, 29°18'E, 01 Sep. 1974; SA- IAB 39959 (667 mm TL) South Africa, Eastern Cape, Hole-In-Hall, 32°00'S, 29°12'E, 27 Jan. 1975; SAIAB 83077 (2: 171–267 mm TL) South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal, Scottburgh, 30°17'S, 30°46'E and SAIAB 60166 (9: 85–349 mm TL), South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal, Scottburgh tide pool, 30°18'S 30°48'E, 18 Apr. 1999. Diagnosis. A moray eel with dorsal-fin origin anterior to gill opening, anal-fin origin just behind anus, with mottled and faintly reticulated color pattern on a dark brown background; three long intermaxillary canines in a median row; vomerine teeth small, in a single row; maxillary teeth biserial; vertebral count: 3–5 predorsal, 54–58 preanal, and 134–136 in total. Description. Proportions as % TL: preanal 41.1–50.8, predorsal 8.1–11.5, head length 11.3–15.0, depth at gill opening 4.2–8.4, depth at anus 3.7–6.5. As % head length: snout 15.2–18.5, eye diameter 10.0–11.8 and upper jaw 37.0–47.9. Vertebral: predorsal 3–5 (3), preanal 54–58 (56), total 134–136 (135). Body elongate, depth at gill opening 4.2–8.4 and 3.7–6.5 at anus in % TL; anus anterior to mid-body, preanal length 41.1–50.8 in % TL; head and trunk together shorter than the tail. Dorsal-fin origin anterior to gill opening, predorsal length 8.1–11.5 in % TL; anal-fin origin immediately behind anus; dorsal and anal fins continuous. Head long 11.3–15.0 in % TL, blunt anterior, concave above eye and broad behind the eye. Snout short, 15.2– 18.5 in % HL; upper jaw slightly longer than the lower jaw; anterior nostril tubular on each side of snout tip, posterior nostril round and slightly anterior to the eye. Three supraorbital pores, first pore situated just above the upper lip near tip of snout, second above the first pore and adjacent to the anterior nostril and one between anterior and posterior nostrils. Two branchial pores above and anterior to gill opening. Four infraorbital pores along the upper jaw, first between anterior nostril and anterior margin of the eye, second below anterior margin of the eye, third below the middle of the eye and the fourth below posterior edge of the eye. Five mandibular pores, all anterior to the rictus. No lateral-line pores posterior to the branchial ones. Gill opening slit-like and slightly below mid-body. Teeth slender and sharply pointed (Fig. 3); peripheral inter-maxillary teeth in single row of 6–9 (6) on each side; no intermediate inter-maxillary teeth; median inter-maxillary 2–3 (3), uniserial extremely long and widely spaced; vomerine teeth uniserial and small; inner maxillary teeth 1–4 (1), longer than outer maxillary teeth, anterior ones the largest, decreasing in size posteriorly; outer maxillary 12–16 (14) small teeth, closely spaced. Colour of fresh specimen and in preservation (Fig. 5). Head and body dark brown with mottled and faintly reticulated pattern; mottled coloration on the head extends inside the lower jaw; snout and ventral portion of the lower jaw to the beginning of anal fin paler compared to the rest of the body; dorsal- and anal-fins with dark brown margins. Distribution. Specimens of this species were collected in the Western Indian Ocean along the coast of South Africa from KwaZulu-Natal to the Eastern Cape, known to a depth of ~ 40 m in rock, intertidal and tide pools and sand bottoms. Etymology. The specific name, elaineheemstrae, is in honour of Mrs Elaine Heemstra (NRF-SAIAB Honorary Research Associate) for her tremendous support in mentoring the first author in fish taxonomy. Comparisons with other species. The dorsal-fin origin anterior to gill opening and anal-fin origin just after anus places this species in the genus Gymnothorax as currently recognized. Gymnothorax elaineheemstrae can be differentiated from other species within the genus in the Western Indian Ocean by its colour pattern and vertebral count. Gymnothorax elaineheemstrae has a mottled and faintly reticulated pattern (Fig. 5), whereas G. undulatus has irregular rectangular blotches separated by large reticulations (Fig. 4). Gymnothorax elaineheemstrae has a similar teeth arrangement to G. chilospilus Bleeker 1864, an Indo-Pacific species which G. undulatus has been confused with. However, G. chilospilus differs from G. elaineheemstrae in having fewer preanal (47–52 vs 54–58) and total vertebrae (120–129 vs 134–136); more peripheral intermaxillary teeth (6–8 vs 4–6) and clearly visible white markings on head (vs no white markings on head). The mottled pattern in G. elaineheemstrae is similar to G. flavimarginatus (Rüppell 1830), but G. elaineheemstrae has a faintly reticulated pattern and lacks the black blotch at the gill opening and the pale margin around posterior tail. Gymnothorax elaineheemstrae also differs from another closely similar species G. pictus (Ahl 1789) by the dorsal-fin origin which is anterior to gill opening (vs exactly above gill opening in G. pictus); uniserial teeth on vomer (vs. biserial); 3–5 (vs 7–11) predorsal and 54–58 (vs 56–62) preanal vertebrae. Remarks. The species retained the common name Marbled leopard moray given by King & Fraser (2014). Genetics. The COI analysis gave an aligned data set of 411 base pairs (bp) in length for 50 sequences. The neighbour-joining tree (Fig. 6) based on COI sequences revealed two distinct clades among specimens formerlyregarded as G. undulatus. Gymnothorax undulatus was made up of three lineages (Clades A, B and C) and was geographically widespread, comprising samples from the Pacific Ocean and several WIO regions. These lineages represented regions that were not distinct in the morphological analysis. Specimens from all these geographic regions had the typical G. undulatus color pattern, i.e. dark brown body with rectangular spots separated by pale reticulum. The second clade comprised Gymnothorax elaineheemstrae and was nested within the morphologically-distinct banded moray G. rueppelliae (McClelland 1844). Gymnothorax elainheemstrae is restricted to South Africa and comprises of specimens that are mottled and less reticulated. The most appropriate nucleotide substitution model for the COI data was determined to be a GTR model (Rodríguez et al. 1990), with proportion of invariable sites (I = 0.638), base frequencies of A = 0.284, C = 0.290, G = 0.157 and T = 0.269, and a rate matrix of R [A↔C] = 1.247, R [A↔ G] = 19.982, R [A↔T] = 3.994, R [C↔G] = 1.790, R [C↔T] = 18.676 and R [G↔T] = 1.000. The ML tree constructed with a loglikelihood (lnL) of -2829.731 (not shown) indicated the genetic distinction of G. undulatus and G. elaineheemstrae, similar to neighbour joining tree. Enforcing the topology to reflect the monophyly of the former G. undulatus (i.e., G. undulatus + G. elaineheemstrae as sister taxa, maintaining all internal relationships) resulted in a log-likelihood of -2840.998; this topology was significantly less likely (∆lnL = 11.266, P Gymnothorax based on COI sequences ranged from 0.073 to 0.267 (Table 10). The lowest genetic distance (0.073) was between the paintspotted moray G. pictus and lipspot moray G. chilospilus, and this was the only genetic distance G. griseus and brown spotted moray G. fuscomaculatus. The genetic distance (K2P) between G. undulatus and G. elaineheemstrae was high at 0.201. The 16S rRNA analysis involved an alignment of 404 nucleotides for 44 sequences, including three sequences of G. undulatus from Japan (Pacific Ocean). The optimal model for this dataset included a model with base frequencies of A = 0.339, C = 0.260, G = 0.196 and T = 0.205, a rate matrix of R [A↔C] = 1.277, R [A↔G] = R [C↔T] = 5.725 and R [A↔ T] = R [C↔G] = R [G↔T] = 1.000, a proportion of invariable sites (I = 0.367) and a gamma distribution of rate variation (α = 0.477). The NJ tree (Fig. 7) recovered a clade of G. undulatus that was widespread, containing samples from the Archipelago, East Africa, Seychelles and Japan, and sister to G. rueppelliae. Gymnothorax elaineheemstrae was distinct and phylogenetically divergent from the G. undulatus clade and was well-supported with 100% bootstrap. The ML tree (lnL = -2490.389; not shown) also revealed G. undulatus and G. elaineheemstrae to form distinct and phylogenetically well-separated clades. As with the COI data, enforcing the topologies to reflect the monophyly of the former G. undulatus (with G. undulatus placed as a sister taxon to G. elaineheemstrae) presented a significantly worse fit to the data (lnL = -2512.244, ∆lnL = 21.855, P G. thyrsoideus and the banded moray G. rueppelliae, and the lowest value (0.003) was between G. griseus and G. thyrsoideus, possibly indicating the misidentification of the former (see Fig. 7). The next lowest value (0.190) was between G. chilospilus and G. flavimarginatus. The genetic distance from the comparison between G. elaineheemstrae and the G. undulatus clades was 0.234. Average divergences of 0.021 to 0.081 separated potential Archipelago, widespread and Japanese (Pacific Ocean) subclades and lineages within the G. undulatus clade (Fig. 7)., Published as part of Sithole, Yonela, Smith, David G., Mwale, Monica & Gouws, Gavin, 2020, A taxonomic revision of Gymnothorax undulatus (Anguilliformes: Muraenidae) in the Western Indian Ocean, with description of a new species, pp. 161-181 in Zootaxa 4767 (1) on pages 170-174, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4767.1.7, http://zenodo.org/record/3770681, {"references":["Lacepede, B. G. E. (1803) Histoire naturelle des poisons. Vol. 5. Chez F. G. Levrault, Paris, cxi + 414 pp.","Smith, J. L. B. (1949) The Sea fishes of Southern Africa. Central News Agency, LTD, Cape Town, xvi + 550 pp., 100 pls.","Smith, J. LB. (1953) The Sea fishes of Southern Africa. 3 rd Edition. Central News Agency, LTD, Cape Town, 564 pp., 107 pls.","Smith, J. L. B. (1962) The moray eels of the Western Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. 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The taxonomic status of the widely distributed Indo-Pacific undulated moray eel, Gymnothorax undulatus, is revised using morphological and genetics features. Ninety-seven specimens previously identified as G. undulatus were examined and their mitochondrial COI and 16S rRNA genes were analysed. The multivariate analysis of eight morphometric characters resulted in separation with little to no overlap among some geographic regions. These groupings explained more than 90% of the total variation, with 86.6% overall classification. Two color morphs were identified, and the South African population was described as new species, Gymnothorax elaineheemstrae n. sp., distinct from G. undulatus in having mottled and faintly reticulated color pattern, 134–136 total vertebrae and further confirmed by the genetic analysis of COI and 16S rRNA with > 0.1 genetic distance. The morphological and genetics results indicate that G. undulatus, previously treated as a single species, consists of more than one species.

Gymnothorax minor is a moray eel of the family Muraenidae found in the Western Pacific Ocean. We report here its complete mitogenome as determined by Illumina next-generation sequencing and the phylogenetic relationship with its congeners and other taxa of the family Muraenidae. The whole mitogenome of G. minor had a total length of 16,574 bp, comprising 37 genes - 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), two ribosomal ribonucleic acid (rRNA) and 22 transfer ribonucleic acid (tRNA) genes - and a control region. Excepting cox1 with GTG, the other 12 PCGs had ATG start codon. Seven of its PCGs had incomplete stop codon - five (nad2; cox1; cox2; nad3 and nad4) with T and two (atp6 and cox3) with TA. Molecular phylogeny based on 13 PCGs was concordant with 15 mitochondrial genes (13 PCGs and 2 rRNA genes). The subfamily Muraeninae as well as the subfamily Uropterygiinae were monophyletic. However, the genus Gymnothorax was paraphyletic, with G. minor forming a sister group with Rhinomuraena quaesita in the lineage containing also G. kidako and G. formosus forming a sister group with Enchelynassa canina. The phylogenetic relationship of the genus Gymnothorax and related taxa of the family Muraenidae, based on the mitochondrial cob gene, was in general similar to that based on 15 mt-genes. The mitogenome is useful for future studies on phylogenetics and systematics of eels of the family Muraenidae and other taxa of the order Anguilliformes.

Two new waspfish (Tetrarogidae) species, Ablabys pauciporus sp. nov. and A. gymnothorax sp. nov., are described on the basis of three specimens from the Great Barrier Reef, Australia and four specimens from Japan, Taiwan and Vietnam, respectively. Although A. pauciporus and Ablabys taenianotus (Cuvier 1829) both share counts of 4 or 5 anal-fin soft rays with a short fin base and 11 or 12 pectoral-fin rays, the former has distinctly lower counts of body scales, including number of lateral-line pores (12 or 13 vs. 20–25 in the latter), strongly notched interspinous dorsal-fin membranes (vs. weakly notched or unnotched), and some differing morphometrics (including head depth, orbit diameter and pelvic-fin length) and coloration. Ablabys gymnothorax is most similar to Ablabys macracanthus (Bleeker 1852) in having more than 7 anal-fin soft rays with a long fin base, but differs from the latter in having a naked thorax (vs. scaled), the last dorsal-fin soft ray with a continuous basal membrane to the dorsal edge of the caudal peduncle and the basal upper margin of the caudal fin (vs. not continuous with caudal fin), higher counts of dorsal- and anal-fin rays, body scales and gill rakers, and in some morphometrics. Tetraroge vestitus De Vis 1884, previously considered as a junior synonym of A. taenianotus, is regarded here as a junior synonym of Centropogon marmoratus Gunther 1862.

Despite the importance of predation in many ecosystems, gaps remain in our understanding of nocturnal marine predators. Although the kelp forests of Southern California are some of the most well-studied ecosystems, California morays, Gymnothorax mordax, are predominately nocturnal predators that have remained largely unstudied and their predatory effects on the kelp forest ecosystem are unknown. We use a multi-year data set to examine the dietary breadth of G. mordax and to determine the functional role of this predator. We also quantify bite force to examine the potential performance limitations of morays in exploiting prey. Stomach content analyses and linear selectivity index values indicate that G. mordax specializes on kelp bass, Paralabrax clathratus. Average size of kelp bass consumed varies across years, suggesting that morays respond to fluctuations in prey size availability. The scaling relationship of kelp bass standard length and moray head length reveals an ontogenetic shift, where maximum prey size increases with moray size and small prey are dropped from the diet of larger individuals. Moray bite force exhibited strong positive allometry with moray head size, suggesting that larger morays exhibit greater bite forces for their head and body size. However, we found no relationship between prey size and bite force, suggesting that a disproportional increase in bite force does not facilitate the consumption of disproportionately larger prey. Our results indicate that while G. mordax of Catalina Island is a dietary specialist, it is capable of exhibiting functional shifts in prey size and species based on their abundance. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s00442-018-4260-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.