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Anguilliformes (Eels and morays) >
Muraenidae (Moray eels) > Muraeninae
Etymology: Echidna: Greek, echidna = viper, 1847 (Ref. 45335).
Eponymy: In Greek mythology Echidna was a female monster, and mother of many other monsters including the Hydra. Hesiod described her as “half a nymph with glancing eyes and fair cheeks, and half again a huge snake, great and awful, with speckled skin.” (Ref. 128868), visit book page.
More on author: Bloch.
Entorno: milieu / zona climática / rango de profundidad / gama de distribución
Ecología
marino asociado a arrecife; rango de profundidad 0 - 12 m (Ref. 9710), usually 0 - 2 m (Ref. 40849). Tropical; 33°N - 30°S, 82°W - 14°W
Western Atlantic: Bermuda, Florida (USA), and the Bahamas to the Antilles (Ref. 26340) and Brazil. Eastern Atlantic: Cape Verde (Ref. 34514) and Ascension Island (Ref. 4450). The only record from West Africa is probably erroneous (Ref. 4450). Also southern Atlantic islands (Ref. 26938).
Tamaño / Peso / Edad
Madurez: Lm ? range ? - ? cm
Max length : 165 cm TL macho / no sexado; (Ref. 26340); common length : 40.0 cm TL macho / no sexado; (Ref. 5217)
With short blunt snout, yellow chain-like markings, teeth bluntly pointed or molar-like especially on roof of mouth (Ref. 26938).
Body shape (shape guide): eel-like.
A benthic and solitary species (Ref. 26340) found commonly on reefs and rocky shore areas. Feeds on small fishes and crustaceans (Ref. 5521). At Fernando de Noronha Archipelago, off NE Brazil, forages for sally lightfoot crabs (Grapsus grapsus) on exposed reefs at ebb tide and in tide-pools mostly at daytime. Able to withstand up to 30 minutes out of water while foraging, uses four main tactics both in and out of the water. Searches for prey at pool rims and rock bases poking into crevices and holes, stealthily approaches previously sighted prey, chases prey and ambushes prey from under rocks and crevices. Hunting success varies with employed tactic, but overall success is about 50%. May move up to 6 meters in about 1 hour while foraging on the exposed reef. Its crab hunting is mostly visually guided and a fish darting nearby a stealthily foraging moray may cause it to miss the strike; the missed crab may be chased up to 5 m on the reef. Able to strike with its body partly or entirely out of the water, usually strikes from a distance of 5 to10 centimeters. Small crabs are swallowed whole, whereas larger ones are torn apart by a combination of tugging, rotating, knotting, and thrashing movements. Handling time is related to prey size, the largest crabs (carapace width 2.3-3.2 times larger than moray’s head width) broken up and swallowed within 90 to 240 seconds. Attracted to plastic or rubber decoys dragged on a nylon string nearby, striking at these (Ref. 50922).
Ciclo vital y comportamiento de apareamiento
Madurez | Reproducción | Puesta | Huevos | Fecundidad | Larva
Robins, C.R. and G.C. Ray, 1986. A field guide to Atlantic coast fishes of North America. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, U.S.A. 354 p. (Ref. 7251)
Situación en la Lista Roja de la UICN (Ref. 130435: Version 2025-2 (Global))
Amenaza para el ser humano
Harmless
Usos humanos
Pesquerías: escaso valor comercial; Acuario: Comercial
Herramientas
Informes especiales
Descargar XML
Fuentes de Internet
Estimaciones basadas en modelos
Temperatura preferida (Referencia
123201): 26.1 - 28.1, mean 27.4 °C (based on 527 cells).
Índice de diversidad filogenética (Referencia
82804): PD
50 = 0.5005 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00049 (0.00024 - 0.00099), b=3.26 (3.09 - 3.43), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this (Sub)family-body shape (Ref.
93245).
Nivel trófico (Referencia
69278): 3.6 ±0.59 se; based on food items.
Resiliencia (Referencia
120179): Muy bajo, población duplicada en un tiempo mínimo superior a 14 años (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Vulnerabilidad pesquera (Ref.
59153): Very high vulnerability (90 of 100).
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Nutrientes (Ref.
124155): Calcium = 22.6 [11.1, 35.5] mg/100g; Iron = 0.395 [0.221, 0.871] mg/100g; Protein = 18.8 [16.4, 21.4] %; Omega3 = 0.0759 [, ] g/100g; Selenium = 41.4 [20.4, 88.3] μg/100g; VitaminA = 44.8 [10.8, 165.3] μg/100g; Zinc = 0.937 [0.641, 1.355] mg/100g (wet weight);
