Description: Body elongate, deep, compressed anteriorly. Head short, massive, with a convex dorsal profile. Colour variable, usually dark brown with intricate marbled yellow patterns.
Global Distribution: Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean. View Map
BIOLOGICAL FEATURES
Size: Maximum length 150 cm (total length); common length 80.0 cm (TL). Maximum weight 6450 g.
Age: Maximum reported age 15 years. Estimated lifespan A0.95=38.1 years.
Behavioural ecology: A nocturnal, territorial species. Known to bite if provoked.
Population structure & migrations:
ECOLOGICAL FEATURES
Depth range: FishBase: 15 - 50 m.
Canary Islands (González et al. 2000): up to 800 m depth; (Brito et al. 2002): 0 - 800, more common betweem 100 - 300 m.
Habitat: Reef-associated. Usually found lurking in holes, and writhing snakelike through crevices, under rocks or corals.
Feeding habits: A carnivorous species, feeding primarily on fishes, but also consuming crustaceans and cephalopods. It is an opportunistic predator. In the Mediterranean (Matić-Skoko et al. 2014), Phycis phycis was the dominant prey species.
Trophic level: FishBase: 4.2
FISHERIES
Commercial interest: 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.
Direcção Regional de Pescas, Madeira.
Ferreira S., Sousa R., Delgado J., Carvalho D., Chada T. (2008). Weight-length relationships for demersal fish species caught off the Madeira archipelago (eastern-central Atlantic). Journal of Applied Ichthyology, 24: 93-95.
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.
Haddad Jr. V., Barreiros J.P. (2007). Animais Marinhos dos Açores: Perigosos e Venenosos. Blu edições, 60 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
Matić-Skoko S., Tutman P., Bojanić-Varezić D., Skaramuca D., Äikić D., LisiÄić D., Skaramuca B. (2014). Food preferences of the Mediterranean moray eel, Muraena helena (Pisces: Muraenidae), in the southern Adriatic Sea. Marine Biology Research, 10(8): 807-815.
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.
