Actinopterygii (ray-finned fishes) >
Anguilliformes (Eels and morays) >
Muraenidae (Moray eels) > Muraeninae
Etymology: Gymnothorax: Greek, gymnos = naked + Greek, thorax, -akos = breast (Ref. 45335).
Environment / Climate / Range
Ecology
Marine; reef-associated. Temperate, preferred ?
Southwest Pacific: Australia, Norfolk Island and New Zealand (Ref. 8879) incl. Kermadec Is. (Ref. 33839) and questionably Juan Fernández Is. (Ref. 89357).
Size / Weight / Age
Maturity: Lm ? range ? - ? cm
Max length : 180 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 33839)
Short description
Morphology | Morphometrics
Teeth in jaw roughly 25 in single series, anterior enlarged fang-like and depressible; vomerine teeth small. Mouth large (44% head length) does not fully close, reaching well beyond eyes. Lower jaw slightly prognathous, upper jaw blunt. Eyes small, roughly the same size as branchial opening, and continuous with surrounding skin. Branchial opening slanted posteriorly, below midline. Two branchial pores, three mandibular pores, four suborbital pores, and posterior nasal opening above and in front of eye. Head length roughly 7 times total length; preanal length about equal to tail length, posterior third laterally compressed.
A benthic species (Ref. 75154) which occurs inshore (Ref. 7300).
Life cycle and mating behavior
Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae
Paxton, J.R., D.F. Hoese, G.R. Allen and J.E. Hanley, 1989. Pisces. Petromyzontidae to Carangidae. Zoological Catalogue of Australia, Vol. 7. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 665 p. (Ref. 7300)
IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 115185)
CITES (Ref. 94142)
Not Evaluated
Threat to humans
Harmless
Human uses
More information
Common namesSynonymsMetabolismPredatorsEcotoxicologyReproductionMaturitySpawningFecundityEggsEgg development
Age/SizeGrowthLength-weightLength-lengthLength-frequenciesMorphometricsMorphologyLarvaeLarval dynamicsRecruitmentAbundance
ReferencesAquacultureAquaculture profileStrainsGeneticsAllele frequenciesHeritabilityDiseasesProcessingMass conversion
Tools
Special reports
Download XML
Internet sources
Estimates of some properties based on models
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref.
82805): PD
50 = 0.5000 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00095 (0.00047 - 0.00196), b=3.10 (2.93 - 3.27), in cm Total Length, based on LWR estimates for this Genus-body shape (Ref.
93245).
Trophic Level (Ref.
69278): 4.3 ±0.7 se; Based on size and trophs of closest relatives
Resilience (Ref.
69278): Very Low, minimum population doubling time more than 14 years (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Vulnerability (Ref.
59153): Very high vulnerability (85 of 100) .