Green Moray, Gymnothorax funebris
Green Moray, Gymnothorax funebris. Fish caught from waters off Pulley Ridge, 100 miles west of the Tortugas Ecological Reserve, Florida Keys, August 2019. Length: 86 cm (2 feet 10 inches). Catch, photograph and identification courtesy of George Brinkman, Guelph, Ontario, Canada. Note: this was one of three Green Morays caught on the same trip from 198 m (650 feet) water. Thus either the identification is incorrect (highly unlikely) or these catches represent a significant depth extension for the Green Moray which historically has been considered to be a shallow water species.
Green Moray, Gymnothorax funebris. Fish caught from a rock jetty, Islamorada, Florida, March 2017. Length: 51 cm (20 inches). Catch, photography and identification courtesy of Kenneth Tse, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The Green Moray, Gymnothorax funebris, is a member of the Moray and Snake Moray Eel or Muraenidae Family, and is known in Mexico as Morena verde. Globally, there are one hundred sixteen members in the genus Gymnothorax, of which eighteen are found in Mexican waters, nine in the Atlantic and nine in the Pacific Ocean.
The Green Moray has a stout elongated muscular compressed body that tapers gradually to a small tail. They are covered with a thick leathery skin and a thick yellow mucus that affords its green color and protects them protection from abrasion, disease and parasites. Their head has an elongated pointed snout that narrows from a bulbous nape with highly visible tube-like structure front nostrils and their rear nostrils are simple openings. Their large mouth is constantly opening and closing, mechanically pumping water for respiration that exits through gill slits, is equipped with smooth-edged teeth that are highly visible long canines at the front of the jaws and 2 rows of 5 or 6 teeth at the front of the upper jaw that transition to one row toward the back of the mouth with vomerine teeth on the roof of the mouth set in two rows. The lower jaw has a single row of teeth. Their anal and dorsal fins originate well in front of the gill openings; both are well-developed, covered with skin, and are continuous with the short caudal fin. Their tail is approximately half or slightly greater than half the body length. They do not have pectoral and pelvic fins. They do not have scales.
The Green Moray is found in coral reefs, mangroves, rocky habitat and within tidal pools at depths usually up to 50 m (164 feet). They are known to enter brackish-water tidal creeks and mangrove areas, as well as brackish-water caves. They are one of the largest morays reaching a maximum of 2.5 m (8 feet 2 inches) in length and 29 kg (65 lbs) in weight. They are a benthic solitary species that are active nocturnally and take shelter during daylight hours. They are voracious nocturnal ambush predators with poor eyesight and therefore utilize their keen sense of smell to seek out prey that includes cephalopods, crabs, fish, and shrimps. It is believed that large Green Morays do not have natural predators. They are known to visit cleaning stations to have parasites removed by wrasses and cleaner shrimps. Reproduction is involves spawning migrations and oviparious with transparent ribbon-like leptocephali pelagic larvae. The Green Moray is poorly studied with very limited information available about their lifestyle and behavioral patterns including specific details on age, growth, longevity, movement patterns, diet, habitat use, and reproduction.
The Green Moray is most likely confused with the Purplemouth Moray, Gymnothorax vicinus (elongated pointed snout, mottled colored body, brown color).
The Green Moray is a resident of all Mexican waters of the Atlantic Ocean including the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean with the exception that they are absent from north of Tuxpan, Veracruz in the Gulf of Mexico.
From a conservation perspective the Green Moray is currently considered to be of Least Concern with stable, widely distributed populations. They are encountered by divers with some frequency. They are sold commercially as a human food but known to contain ciguatoxin. They are considered to be aggressive toward humans and considered to be traumatogenic with their bites potentially severe and life-threatening. They are utilized by the aquarium trade on a limited basis.