Description: Body elongate, cylindrical, only slightly compressed behind the anus. Head short, with dorsal profile depressed over the eyes. Dark brown or sometimes red. It can be confused with the black moray (Muraena augusti), but it is overall more voluminous and lighter coloured, except for the head.
Global Distribution: Eastern Atantic, from the Iberian Peninsula to Cape Verde, and also in the Mediterranean, associated with continental and insular shelves. View Map
Reproduction: Spawns in the warmer season. Eggs 2.3 - 2.3 mm diameter. Leptocephali larvae were observed in the Gulf of Guinea.
Maturity:
Behavioural ecology:
Population structure & migrations:
ECOLOGICAL FEATURES
Depth range: FishBase: 0 - 20 m.
Canary Islands (Brito et al. 2002): 0 - 300; more common less than 50 m deep.
Habitat: Benthic, on continental and insular shelves, on rocky coasts, over rough sand, gravel, in small caves and crevices.
Feeding habits: Feeds mostly on invertebrates, especially crustaceans, cephalopods, and gastropods.
Trophic level: FishBase: 3.4
FISHERIES
Commercial interest: Minor commercial species.
Conservation status: Global: Not evaluated.
Europe: Least concern.
Nutritional information & food safety:
REFERENCES
Brito A., Pascual P.J., Falcón J.M., Sancho A., González G. (2002). Peces de las islas Canarias. Catálogo comentado e ilustrado. Francisco Lemos Editor, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain, 418 pp.
González J., Hernández C., Marrero P., Rapp E. (2000). Peces de Canarias: GuÃa Submarina (5th edition). Francisco Lemus Editor, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canarias, Spain, 235 pp.
Hureau J.-C., ed. (1984-1985). Fishes of the North-Eastern Atlantic and the Mediterranean. UNESCO. Accessed through: Marine Species Identification Portal. World Wide Web electronic publication. http://species-identification.org/index.php (2014).
IUCN (2014). The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2014.1. www.iucnredlist.org
Nieto A., Ralph G.M., Comeros-Raynal M.T., Kemp J., GarcÃa Criado M., Allen D.J., Dulvy N.K., Walls R.H.L., Russell B., Pollard D., GarcÃa S., Craig M., Collette B.B., Pollom R., Biscoito M., Labbish Chao N., Abella A., Afonso P., Ãlvarez H., Carpenter K.E., Clò S., Cook R., Costa M.J., Delgado J., Dureuil M., Ellis J.R., Farrell E.D., Fernandes P., Florin A-B., Fordham S., Fowle, S., Gil de Sola L., Gil Herrera J., Goodpaster A., Harvey M., Heessen H., Herler J., Jung A., Karmovskaya E., Keskin C., Knudsen S.W., Kobyliansky S., KovaÄić M., Lawson J.M., Lorance P., McCully Phillips S., Munroe T., Nedreaas K., Nielsen J., Papaconstantinou C., Polidoro B., Pollock C.M., Rijnsdorp A.D., Sayer C., Scott J., Serena F., Smith-Vaniz W.F., Soldo A., Stump E., Williams J.T. (2015). Europen Red List of Marine Fishes. IUCN and European Union, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, 90 pp.
