Common names from other countries
Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range
Écologie
marin récifal; profondeur 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).
Taille / Poids / Âge
Maturity: Lm ? range ? - ? cm
Max length : 165 cm TL mâle / non sexé; (Ref. 26340); common length : 40.0 cm TL mâle / non sexé; (Ref. 5217)
With short blunt snout, yellow chain-like markings, teeth bluntly pointed or molar-like especially on roof of mouth (Ref. 26938).
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).
Life cycle and mating behavior
Maturities | Reproduction | Spawnings | Egg(s) | Fecundities | Larves
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)
Statut dans la liste rouge de l'IUCN (Ref. 130435)
CITES (Ref. 128078)
Not Evaluated
Menace pour l'homme
Harmless
Utilisations par l'homme
Pêcheries: intérêt commercial mineur; Aquarium: Commercial
Outils
Articles particuliers
Télécharger en XML
Sources Internet
Estimates based on models
Preferred temperature (Ref.
115969): 26.1 - 28.1, mean 27.4 (based on 527 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref.
82804): PD
50 = 0.5005 [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00050 (0.00025 - 0.00101), b=3.26 (3.10 - 3.42), in cm Total Length, based on LWR estimates for this (Sub)family-body shape (Ref.
93245).
Niveau trophique (Ref.
69278): 3.6 ±0.59 se; based on food items.
Résilience (Ref.
120179): Très faible, temps minimum de doublement de population supérieur à 14 ans (Preliminary K or Fecundity.).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref.
59153): Very high vulnerability (90 of 100).
