Mexican False Moray, Chlopsis kazuko

Mexican False Moray, Chlopsis kazuko. Fish provided by the commercial fishermen of the greater Los Cabos area, Baja California Sur, February 2012.  Length: 10.5 cm (4.1 inches).

The Mexican False Moray, Chlopsis kazuko, that is also known as Kazuko’s False Moray and in Mexico as morena falsa mexicana, is a member of the False Moray or Chlopsidae Family, known collectively as morenas falsas in Mexico. Globally, there are twenty-four members of the Chlopsidae Family that are found in nine genera. There are nine species in the genus Chlopsis, of which four are found in Mexican waters, two in the Atlantic and two in the Pacific Ocean.

The Mexican False Moray has an elongated and slightly compressed body that tapers to a pointed tip. They are uniformly brown dorsally and abruptly transition to white ventrally. Their head has large eyes and a bluntly pointed snout. Their front nostril is tubular and points downward; their rear nostril is under the eyes and opens in the top lip. Their mouth is moderately large and extends behind the eyes; it is equipped with small teeth set in 3 rows on both jaws and 2 series of teeth on the roof of the mouth. Their gill openings are small ovals. Their anal and dorsal fins are well-developed and continuous with the caudal fin. They lack pectoral fins. A key to identification is that their dorsal fin originates over or in front of the gill openings.

The Mexican False Moray is virtually unknown with only a handful of documented collection over a wide range that extends from the tip of the Baja to Columbia. They are believed to inhabit sand and coralline-rubble substrates in which they burrow and are found at depths between 53 m (175 feet) and 100 m (330 feet). They reach a maximum of 11.3 cm (4.4 inches) in length. They are believed to be nocturnal ambush predators with poor eyesight that utilize their keen sense of smell to seek out prey, consuming small fish and invertebrates, including crabs, octopus, and shrimp. Reproduction is believed to be viviparous with eggs and sperm broadcasted into the water and generating pelagic eggs and larvae that drift in oceanic currents. The Mexican False Moray is exceedingly rare and 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.

In Mexican waters the Mexican False Morays is a resident of the Pacific and found around the tip of the Baja, Baja California Sur, and from the coastal waters off the State of Jalisco south to Guatemala along the west coast of the mainland.

The Mexican False Moray is mostly likely confused with the Stripesnout False Moray, Chlopsis apterus (dorsal fin origin behind gill cover).

From a conservation perspective the Mexican False Moray has not been formally evaluated and is currently considered to be Data Deficient. They are seldom seen by humans and normally only encountered via sand dredges, thus of limited interest to most.