MYSTERY MORAY
Gymnothorax meleagris? or eurostus? Mystery solved. See below.
     In the past few months two people have sent me pictures of unusual eels that resemble our common Whitemouth Moray (Gymnothorax meleagris) but with larger spots and/or wormlike markings. I sent the photo above to Dr. John E. Randall and John Earle, both of the Bishop Museum. John Earle wrote:

"Beautiful eel. I have seen a rare few like that, and have always
thought they were variants of G. meleagris, which seems plausible upon
reading germane section of Bohlke and Randall's "Review of the Moray
Eels of the Hawaiian Islands" (2000), and quoted here from p.244:

"Gymnothorax meleagris is remarkable for the variation in color that it
may exhibit.....One extreme in color has a fine reticulated pattern as
shown by the figure in Tinker (1978:528)".....etc."

On the other hand, Dr. Randall wrote that he thought it was a variant of the Stout Moray (Gymnothorax eurostus), also known for its variability in color:

"When you look at the figure of meleagris in Tinker, I think you will agree
that eurostus is a better guess."

The photo in Tinker shows what appears to be a much larger eel with finer reticulations. If you have a copy of Tinker's "Fishes of Hawaii" look on page 528 and make up your own mind. To me, the eel pictured at the top of this page and the one in Tinker look similar to me except for size of the eel and size of the reticulations. But since smaller eels tend to have larger spots, that could explain the difference. I think the eel pictured below is probably a small Whitemouth with spots intermediate between the extreme reticulations of the top photo and a "normal" small Whitemouth. For another shot of a small Whitemouth, see Keoki Stender's image at

http://www.coralreefnetwork.com/stender/fishes/eels/meleagris3.jpg

If anyone finds one of these guys again, try to see the color of the inside of its mouth. Also, try to look at the tip of the tail. In the Whitemouth Moray, the tail tip is always white. (Note that the photo in Tinker does have the white tail tip.)

UPDATE 8/31/05 Alan Hong collected one of these at the Haleiwa Trench and kept it in his aquarium for some time. The inside of its mouth was white and the tip of the tail was white. He has photos. That settles it for me: these eels are color variants of the Whitemouth Moray.

Thanks to Bill Stohler and Sharon Williams for the use of their photos.