Finespotted Moray, Gymnothorax dovii
Finespotted Moray, Gymnothorax dovii. Fish caught off the beach at Los Barriles, Baja California Sur, January 2017. Length: 34 cm (13 inches); tail 53%. Identification confirmed by H.J. Walker, Jr., Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California.
Finespotted Moray, Gymnothorax dovii. Fish caught from the shore at Los Barriles, Baja California Sur, January 2017. Length: 51 cm (20 inches). Catch and photograph courtesy of Brad Murakami, Surrey, British Columbia, Canada.
The Finespotted Moray, Gymnothorax dovii, is a member of the Moray and Snake Moray Eel or Muraenidae Family, that is also known as the Speckled Moray and in Mexico as morena pintita. Globally, there are one hundred sixteen members in the genus Gymnothorax, of which eighteen are found in Mexican waters, nine in the Atlantic and nine in the Pacific Ocean.
The Finespotted Moray has a moderately robust, elongated, and compressed body that taper gradually to a rounded tail. They are dark brown to greenish-brown overall and covered with small white spots. Their head is slender with a pointed snout and mid-sized eyes. Their front nostrils have tubes but their rear nostrils do not. Their large mouth is equipped with conical and unserrated teeth with 1 row on the sides of their upper jaw and 3 longitudinal rows at the front of their upper jaw. Their anal and dorsal fins originate well in front of the gill openings; both are well-developed, covered with skin, and continuous with the caudal fin. Their tail is approximately half or slightly greater than half the body length. They do not have pectoral fins or scales. They are covered with thick yellow mucus, which provides them with protection from abrasion.
The Finespotted Moray is found in shallow reef areas within cracks and crevices and over sandy and muddy substrate from the intertidal zone to depths up to 73 m (240 feet). They reach a maximum of 1.7 m (5 feet 7 inches) in length. Their body shape and lack of fins, scales, or gill covers allow them to move quickly in and out of rocky crevices. They take shelter during the daylight hours and enter crevices tail first leaving only their head protruding. They are voracious nocturnal ambush predators with poor eyesight and therefore utilize their keen sense of smell to seek out prey, consuming small fish and invertebrates including crab, octopus, and shrimp. They open and close their mouth frequently, an action required for respiration. Reproduction is viviparous with eggs and sperm broadcasted into the water, which generate pelagic eggs and larvae that can drift in oceanic currents for up to 1 year before settling out on the bottom. The Finespotted Moray is poorly studied with very limited information available about their lifestyle and behavioral patterns including specific details on age, growth, longevity, movement patterns, diet, habitat use, and reproduction.
The Finespotted Moray is a resident of Mexican waters of the Pacific Ocean but is absent from exception of Guerrero Negro, Baja California, northward along the central and northwest coasts of Baja and from the northern 20% of the Sea of Cortez.
The Finespotted Moray can be easily confused with the Palenose Moray, Echidna nocturna (row of white spots on lower jaw) and the Panamic Green Moray, Gymnothorax castaneus (limited number of white spots on body).
From a conservation perspective the Finespotted Moray is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. They are very seldom, seen by humans. When encountered they are visually most intimidating but are very timid and not harmful and are only known to bite humans on rare occasions. They are caught on occasion by recreational anglers out of heavy rock structure and normally a “catch and release”.