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Peppered Moray
Gymnothorax pictus (Ahl, 1789)
Peppered Morays in less than one metre of water just off the beach at Paradise Island, Lankanfinolhu, Maldive Islands.
The Peppered Moray can be recognised by its fine black speckles which sometimes join to form diffuse spots.
This species is known to occur in very shallow water on reef flats where it feeds primarily on crustaceans, but also on fishes.
It has been observed fully exposed as the tide recedes, sometimes leaping from the water to capture crabs on rocks above the surface.
The Peppered Moray occurs in tropical marine waters of the Indo-Pacific and from islands of the tropical eastern Pacific.
In Australia it is known from north-west Cape, Western Australia, around the tropical north of the country, and south to the Capricorn Group, Queensland.
View a map of the collecting localities of specimens in the Australian Museum Fish Collection.
Further reading
- Böhlke, E.B. & J.E. McCosker. 2001. The moray eels of Australia and New Zealand, with the description of two new species (Anguilliformes: Muraenidae). Records of the Australian Museum. 53(1): 71-102.
- Paxton, J.R., D.F. Hoese, G.R. Allen & J.E. Hanley. 1989. Zoological Catalogue of Australia Vol.7 Pisces Petromyzontidae to Carangidae. Canberra: Australian Biological Resources Survey. pp. i-xii, 1-665.
- Randall, J.E., Allen, G.R & R.C. Steene. 1990. Fishes of the Great Barrier Reef and Coral Sea. Crawford House Press. Pp. 507.
- Randall, J.E. 1995. Coastal Fishes of Oman. Crawford House Publishing. Pp. 439.
