genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
of
fish
A fish (: fish or fishes) is an aquatic animal, aquatic, Anamniotes, anamniotic, gill-bearing vertebrate animal with swimming fish fin, fins and craniate, a hard skull, but lacking limb (anatomy), limbs with digit (anatomy), digits. Fish can ...
in the
family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
Muraenidae
Moray eels, or Muraenidae (), are a family of eels whose members are found worldwide. There are approximately 200 species in 15 genera which are almost exclusively marine, but several species are regularly seen in brackish water, ...
found in
Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...
s. With more than 120 species, it the most speciose genus of moray eels.
notes that ''Gymnothorax'' as currently recognized is polyphyletic, but cautioned that comparative studies are needed before action is taken to resurrect generic synonyms of ''Gymnothorax''.
Description
Species in this genus are slender (most skinny one being '' Gymnothorax gracilicauda'' )and can get up to 6-8 feet. Like all
moray eels
Moray eels, or Muraenidae (), are a family of eels whose members are found worldwide. There are approximately 200 species in 15 genera which are almost exclusively marine, but several species are regularly seen in brackish water, an ...
have
pharyngeal jaws
Pharyngeal jaws are a "second set" of jaws contained within an animal's throat, or pharynx, distinct from the primary or oral jaws. They are believed to have originated as modified gill arches, in much the same way as oral jaws. Originally hypo ...
.
Species
Both
FishBase
FishBase is a global species database of fish species (specifically finfish). It is the largest and most extensively accessed online database on adult finfish on the web.
and
World Register of Marine Species
The World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) is a taxonomic database that aims to provide an authoritative and comprehensive catalogue and list of names of marine organisms.
Content
The content of the registry is edited and maintained by scien ...
recognize a total of 128 valid species in the genus. However, each database includes three species that the other does not list, which are noted in the list below.
* '' Gymnothorax afer''
Bloch
Bloch is a surname of German origin. Notable people with this surname include:
A
*Adele Bloch-Bauer (1881–1925), Austrian entrepreneur
*Albert Bloch (1882–1961), American painter
*Alexandre Bloch (1857–1919), French painter
*Alfred Bloch ( ...
Temminck
Coenraad Jacob Temminck (; 31 March 1778 – 30 January 1858) was a Dutch patrician, zoologist and museum director.
Biography
Coenraad Jacob Temminck was born on 31 March 1778 in Amsterdam in the Dutch Republic. From his father, Jacob ...
Gymnothorax angusticeps
''Gymnothorax angusticeps'' is a moray eel found in the southeast Pacific Ocean, around Peru
Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by ...
'' (
Hildebrand
Hildebrand is a character from Germanic heroic legend. ''Hildebrand'' is the modern German form of the name: in Old High German it is ''Hiltibrant'' and in Old Norse ''Hildibrandr''. The word ''hild'' means "battle" and ''brand'' means "sword" ...
Gymnothorax annasona
''Gymnothorax annasona'' is a moray eel found in the southwest Pacific Ocean, around Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island. It was species description, described by Gilbert Percy Whitley in 1937, and is commonly known as the Lord Howe Island moray ...
Gymnothorax annulatus
The ringed moray (''Gymnothorax annulatus'') is a moray eel found in the western Pacific Ocean, around the Philippines and Thailand
Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939) ...
Gymnothorax arabicus
''Gymnothorax arabicus'' is a species of moray eel in the genus ''Gymnothorax''. It was described in 2024 from Socotra, the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf. Before its description, specimens of this species were confused with the similar false brown ...
Gymnothorax chlamydatus
The banded mud moray (''Gymnothorax chlamydatus'') is a moray eel found in coral reefs in the western Pacific Ocean (Taiwan and Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between ...
Gymnothorax dovii
''Gymnothorax'' is a genus of fish in the family Muraenidae found in Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. With more than 120 species, it the most speciose genus of moray eels.
notes that ''Gymnothorax'' as currently recognized is polyphy ...
Bliss
BLISS is a system programming language developed at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) by W. A. Wulf, D. B. Russell, and A. N. Habermann around 1970. It was perhaps the best known system language until C debuted a few years later. Since then, C ...
Prokofiev
Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''. , group=n ( – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who l ...
Mishra
Mishra is a surname found among Hindu Brahmin, in the northern, eastern, western and central parts of India and in Nepal. This is the list of notable people with Mishra surname, who may or may not be associated with Brahmin caste.
Army personn ...
, 2016 (Indian unpatterened moray)Mohapatra, A., Ray, D., Smith, D.G. & Mishra, S.S. (2016): A new species of elongate unpatterned moray eel of the genus ''Gymnothorax'' (Muraenidae: Muraeninae) from the Bay of Bengal. ''Zootaxa, 4150 (5): 591–598.''
* '' Gymnothorax intesi'' ( Fourmanoir & Rivaton, 1979) (White-tip moray)
* '' Gymnothorax isingteena'' ( J. Richardson, 1845) (Indo-Pacific spotted moray)
* '' Gymnothorax javanicus'' (Bleeker, 1859) (Giant moray)
* '' Gymnothorax johnsoni'' (
J. L. B. Smith
James Leonard Brierley Smith (26 September 1897 – 8 January 1968) was a South African ichthyology, ichthyologist, organic chemist, and university professor. He was the first to identify a taxidermied fish as a coelacanth, at the time thought t ...
, 1962) (White-spotted moray)
* ''
Gymnothorax kidako
''Gymnothorax'' is a genus of fish in the family Muraenidae found in Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. With more than 120 species, it the most speciose genus of moray eels.
notes that ''Gymnothorax'' as currently recognized is polyphy ...
'' (Temminck & Schlegel, 1846) (Kidako moray)
* '' Gymnothorax kolpos'' J. E. Böhlke & E. B. Böhlke, 1980 (Black-tail moray)
* ''
Gymnothorax kontodontos
The short-tooth moray (''Gymnothorax kontodontos'') is a moray eel found in coral reefs in the eastern central Pacific Ocean around Fanning Island.
Poll
Poll, polled, or polling may refer to:
Forms of voting and counting
* Poll, a formal election
** Election verification exit poll, a survey taken to verify election counts
** Polling, voting to make decisions or determine opinions
** Polling pla ...
, 1953 (Spot-jaw moray)
* ''
Gymnothorax margaritophorus
The blotch-necked moray eel (''Gymnothorax margaritophorus'') is a moray eel found in coral reefs in the Pacific and Indian Oceans.
Gymnothorax moringa
The spotted moray (''Gymnothorax moringa'') is a medium to large moray eel. Other common names include conger, spotted eel, red moray, speckled moray, white cong, white jawed moray, white-chinned moray and white-jawed moray eel. Spotted eels ha ...
Gymnothorax nudivomer
''Gymnothorax nudivomer'', the starry moray or yellowmouth moray, is a species of marine fish in the Family (biology), family Muraenidae.
Description
The starry moray is a large sized fish that can reach a maximum length of 180 cm, but the ...
Agassiz
Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz ( ; ) FRS (For) FRSE (May 28, 1807 – December 14, 1873) was a Swiss-born American biologist and geologist who is recognized as a scholar of Earth's natural history.
Spending his early life in Switzerland, he recei ...
, 1831 (Caribbean ocellated moray)
* '' Gymnothorax odishi'' Mohapatra, Mohanty, Smith, Mishra, and Roy, 2018Mohapatra, A., S. R. Mohanty, D. G. Smith, S. S. Mishra and S. Roy 2018. ''Gymnothorax odishi'' sp. nov. (Muraenidae: Muraeninae), a short brown unpatterned moray eel from Bay of Bengal, India. Zootaxa 4420 (no. 1): 123-130.
* '' Gymnothorax panamensis'' (
Steindachner
Franz Steindachner (11 November 1834 in Vienna – 10 December 1919 in Vienna) was an Austrian zoologist, ichthyologist, and herpetologist. He published over 200 papers on fishes and over 50 papers on reptiles and amphibians. Steindachner descri ...
Gymnothorax polyspondylus
''Gymnothorax polyspondylus'' is a moray eel found in the eastern central Pacific, around Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the ...
'' E. B. Böhlke & J. E. Randall, 2000
* ''
Gymnothorax polyuranodon
''Gymnothorax polyuranodon'', commonly known as the freshwater moray, is a species of moray eel that is native to the Indo-Pacific region, including Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, the northern coastline of Australia, and ...
Gymnothorax prolatus
''Gymnothorax prolatus'' is a moray eel found in the northwest Pacific Ocean, around Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formos ...
McClelland McClelland is a surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Alyssa McClelland, Australian actress
* Anthony McClelland, biological father of Lebron James
* Charles A. McClelland (1917–2006), American political systems analyst
* Charles ...
Gymnothorax tile
The Indian mud moray eel, (''Gymnothorax tile'') is a moray eel found in the western Pacific Ocean, Pacific and Indian Oceans. It was first named by Hamilton in 1822, and is also commonly known as the freshwater moray or freshwater snowflake eel ...