Gymnothorax mordax, California moray : fisheries, aquarium

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Gymnothorax mordax (Ayres, 1859)

California moray
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Gymnothorax mordax   AquaMaps   Data sources: GBIF OBIS
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Image of Gymnothorax mordax (California moray)
Gymnothorax mordax
Picture by Gotshall, D.W.

Classification / Names Common names | Synonyms | Catalog of Fishes(genus, species) | ITIS | CoL | WoRMS | Cloffa

Teleostei (teleosts) > Anguilliformes (Eels and morays) > Muraenidae (Moray eels) > Muraeninae
Etymology: Gymnothorax: Greek, gymnos = naked + Greek, thorax, -akos = breast (Ref. 45335).
More on author: Ayres.

Environment: milieu / climate zone / depth range / distribution range Ecology

Marine; demersal; depth range 1 - 40 m (Ref. 35581). Subtropical; 34°N - 2°S, 121°W - 90°W (Ref. 96339)

Distribution Countries | FAO areas | Ecosystems | Occurrences | Point map | Introductions | Faunafri

Eastern Pacific: Point Conception in California, USA to southern Baja California in Mexico. Also known from the Galapagos Islands (Ref. 35581).

Size / Weight / Age

Maturity: Lm ?  range ? - ? cm
Max length : 152 cm TL male/unsexed; (Ref. 2850); max. reported age: 30 years (Ref. 56049)

Short description Morphology | Morphometrics

Dorsal spines (total): 0; Anal spines: 0; Vertebrae: 146 - 154

Biology     Glossary (e.g. epibenthic)

Found common among rocks; lives in crevices or holes, usually with only head protruding. Very common in shallow reef areas (Ref. 35581). Feed mostly at night on crustaceans, octopuses and small fishes. Long-lived. Pelagic spawners (Ref. 56049).

Life cycle and mating behavior Maturity | Reproduction | Spawning | Eggs | Fecundity | Larvae

Oviparous. Pelagic spawner (Ref. 56049).

Main reference Upload your references | References | Coordinator | Collaborators

Eschmeyer, W.N., E.S. Herald and H. Hammann, 1983. A field guide to Pacific coast fishes of North America. Boston (MA, USA): Houghton Mifflin Company. xii+336 p. (Ref. 2850)

IUCN Red List Status (Ref. 130435)

  Least Concern (LC) ; Date assessed: 18 August 2011

CITES

Not Evaluated

CMS (Ref. 116361)

Not Evaluated

Threat to humans

  Traumatogenic (Ref. 4690)





Human uses

Fisheries: subsistence fisheries; aquarium: public aquariums
FAO - Publication: search | FishSource |

More information

Countries
FAO areas
Ecosystems
Occurrences
Introductions
Stocks
Ecology
Diet
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Food consumption
Ration
Common names
Synonyms
Metabolism
Predators
Ecotoxicology
Reproduction
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Spawning
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Fecundity
Eggs
Egg development
Age/Size
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Length-weight
Length-length
Length-frequencies
Morphometrics
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Larvae
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Otoliths
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Internet sources

AFORO (otoliths) | Aquatic Commons | BHL | Cloffa | BOLDSystems | Websites from users | Check FishWatcher | CISTI | Catalog of Fishes: genus, species | DiscoverLife | ECOTOX | FAO - Publication: search | Faunafri | Fishipedia | Fishtrace | GenBank: genome, nucleotide | GloBI | Google Books | Google Scholar | Google | IGFA World Record | MitoFish | Otolith Atlas of Taiwan Fishes | Public aquariums | PubMed | Reef Life Survey | Socotra Atlas | Tree of Life | Wikipedia: Go, Search | World Records Freshwater Fishing | Zoological Record

Estimates based on models

Preferred temperature (Ref. 123201): 18 - 28.3, mean 25.3 °C (based on 18 cells).
Phylogenetic diversity index (Ref. 82804):  PD50 = 0.5000   [Uniqueness, from 0.5 = low to 2.0 = high].
Bayesian length-weight: a=0.00047 (0.00025 - 0.00089), b=3.28 (3.13 - 3.43), in cm total length, based on LWR estimates for this Genus-body shape (Ref. 93245).
Trophic level (Ref. 69278):  4.5   ±0.8 se; based on diet studies.
Resilience (Ref. 120179):  Low, minimum population doubling time 4.5 - 14 years (tmax=30).
Fishing Vulnerability (Ref. 59153):  Very high vulnerability (90 of 100).
Price category (Ref. 80766):   Medium.