Skip to main content Skip to main navigation menu Skip to site footer
Type: Article
Published: 2017-08-02
Page range: 279–286
Abstract views: 121
PDF downloaded: 3

Gymnothorax visakhaensis sp. nov., a new species of elongate unpatterned moray eel (Muraenidae: Muraeninae) from the Indian Coast

Marine Aquarium and Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Digha, India 721 428
Smithsonian Institution, Museum Support Center, 4210 Silver Hill Rd., Suitland MD 20746
Marine Aquarium and Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Digha, India 721 428
Marine Fish Section, Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata, India 700 016
Marine Aquarium and Regional Centre, Zoological Survey of India, Digha, India 721 428
Pisces Anguilliformes unpatterned moray Visakhapatnam fishing harbour Andhra Pradesh Bay of Bengal

Abstract

An elongate, brown unpatterned moray eel, Gymnothorax visakhaensis sp. nov., is described based on seven specimens collected from the Visakhapatnam fishing harbour, Andhra Pradesh, India. The new species is differentiated from other elongate unpatterned moray eels in having the following combination of characters: anus at about mid-point of body, preanal length 1.9–2.1 in total length; snout blunt and short; dorsal-fin margin black, 6 mandibular pores; intermaxillary teeth biserial; maxillary teeth uniserial, sharp and depressible, pre-dorsal vertebrae 7, pre- anal vertebrae 70–74, total vertebrae 163–169.

 

References

  1. Böhlke, E.B. (1989) Methods and terminology. In: Böhlke, E.B. (Ed.), Fishes of the Western North Atlantic. Memoir of the Sears Foundation for Marine Research, 1 (Part 9), 1–7.

    Böhlke, E.B. (1997) Notes on the identity of elongate unpatterned Indo-Pacific morays, with description of a new species (Muraenidae, Subfamily Muraeninae). Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 147, 89–109.

    Böhlke, E.B. (2000) Notes on the identity of small, brown, unpatterned Indo-Pacific moray eels, with descriptions of three new species (Anguilliformes: Muraenidae). Pacific Science, 54 (4), 395–416.

    Böhlke, E.B. & Randall, J.E. (2000) A review of the moray eels (Anguilliformes: Muraenidae) of the Hawaiian Islands, with descriptions of two new species. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 150, 203–278, pls. I–IX.

    Hamilton, F. (1822) An account of the fishes found in the River Ganges and its branches. Constable and Co., Edinburgh, vii + 405 pp., 39 pls. 1–39.
    https://doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.59540

    Loh, K.H., Shao, K.T. & Chen, H.M. (2011) Gymnothorax melanosomatus, a new moray eel (Teleostei: Anguilliformes: Muraenidae) from southeastern Taiwan. Zootaxa, 3134, 43–52.

    Loh, K.H., Shao, K.T., Ho, H.C., Lim, P.E. & Chen, H.M. (2015) A new species of moray eel (Anguilliformes: Muraenidae) from Taiwan, with comments on related elongate unpatterned species. Zootaxa, 4060 (1), 30–40.
    https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4060.1.5

    Mohapatra, A., Ray, D. & Smith, D.G. (2015) First occurrence of the moray eel Gymnothorax prolatus Sasaki &Amaoka, 1991 (Teleostei: Anguilliformes: Muraenidae) from the Northern Indian Ocean. Marine Biodiversity Records, 8 (e106), 1–3.
    https://doi.org/10.1017/s1755267215000834

    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.
    https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4150.5.6

    Ray, D. & Mohapatra, A. (2015) First record of the moray eel Gymnothorax dorsalis Seale, 1917 (Anguilliformes: Muraenidae) from Indian waters. Indian Journal of Fisheries, 62 (4), 132–134.

    Ray, D., Mohapatra, A. & Smith, D.G. (2015) A new species of short brown unpatterned moray eel of the genus Gymnothorax (Anguilliformes: Muraenidae) from the Bay of Bengal. Zootaxa, 4027 (1), 140–144.
    https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4027.1.8

    Sasaki, K. & Amaoka, K. (1991) Gymnothorax prolatus, a new moray from Taiwan. Japanese Journal of Ichthyology, 38 (1), 7–10.

    Seale, A. (1917) New species of apodal fishes. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, 61 (4), 79–94.

    Smith, D.G. (2012) A checklist of the moray eels of the world (Teleostei: Anguilliformes: Muraenidae). Zootaxa, 3474, 1–64.