3 replies to this topic

[Dasher]

I thought this might be a whitemouth moray but the spots are kind of backwards (black on white rather than white on brown). Perhaps a peppered moray (s. picta)? Photo from west coast of Okinawa. Depth 4 meters.

[SharkyUAE]

Not 100% sure but to me it looks like a Black spotted Moray Gymnothorax tessellata

We have similar beasts on the east coast of UAE and Oman that we call Honeycomb Morays Gymnothorax favagineus

[Dasher]

Thanks! I looked up your answer in fishbase and it looks right. Hard to tell with out seeing teeth, etc. Interestingly, fishbase lists G. tessellata as a synonym of G. favagineus.

[frogfish]

I'm pretty sure that's G. favagineus, fairly common throughout the Indo-Pacific. I've never heard of the synonum.

Helmut Debelius (and several other sourcebooks) give the common name "Honeycomb moray", but I think I've also heard them called something else. Very pretty eels, which can grow fairly large.

Here's a couple more, both from Amed, Bali, in Indonesia: