Small cute brackish moray, help to identify please

[john_lord_b3]

Happy Weekend dear fishkeepers friends! Hope your weekends will be awesome!

I need your help to identify the species and latin name of this particular small cute moray. This one is very commonly caught (as by-catches) in our estuarium and rivers that is close to the estuarium. It is brown-ish and in morphology and color pretty much almost similar to Echidna Rhodochilus, but it does not have the white blotches on the cheek, it only has white dots/blotches on the mouth. It is very friendly, won't bite when handled, and only 15 cm in length. Very cheap too, and very hardy,

Most morays are marine except for a few "freshwater" (should be brackish) species, but this one does not looks like the big four of "freshwater" morays (G. Tile, G. Polyuranodon, E. Rhodochilus, S. Sathete), although there are superficial resemblance to E. Rhodochilus when they are together in one pipe (pics below).








Here is a picture of one of the specimens of the unknown moray, in a pipe with an Echidna Rhodochilus. Look at the direction of the arrow, you will find it just under the big Echidna Rhodochilus. It seems to change coloration when in a pipe with an E. Rhodochilus., from grey to brownish (like the E. Rhodochilus). Both are kept in a brackish tank of 1.008 sg.

Any help/suggestions in identifying this cute fish will be very appreciated!

 

[john_lord_b3]

a closer look at the head

 

[john_lord_b3]

Some of my friends suggested that my mystery moray might be either Uropterygius Micropterus or Gymnothorax Richardsonii (AKA "Bakasi"). So either one or the other. In any case, the little eel seems to be doing just fine in my 1.008 sg brackish tank, no problem at all with the other, larger eels.

 

[john_lord_b3]

a closer look on the mistery moray. Its dorsal fin doesn't start from above the gill openings, and in fact are so difficult to see at all, so I am inclined to think that this is an Uropterygius eel, maybe Uropterygius Micropterus.

 

[john_lord_b3]

I just get another one from the same batch, this one has a more greyish color than the previous one. Upon consultation with experts, we conclude that those two eels are Uropterygius Micropterus. Keep an eye on these eels if you are looking for small brackish morays that stays small (max 30cm) and not aggressive (for a moray).

 

[john_lord_b3]

My Uropterygiuses are doing well so far, and they seem to be able to withstand fluctuations of salinity from 1.018 to 1.008 to 1.006. I deliberately set up my aquarium to changing salinities to simulate a semi brackish river several kilometers from the estuarium.

As for their behavior, they don't show any stress. They are not shy, though not so active, they won't run away from my hands when I am doing aquarium maintenance. They have their favorite hiding places (in my case, one of the moray prefer hiding under clamshell, the other one likes to hang out with other morays in the pipe), however every now and then they will be coming out to the surface to hunt feeder guppies.

 

[john_lord_b3]

It is confirmed that U. Micropterus can tolerate salinity to 1.005 sg, and in fact they seems to be more active at this sg, and I was able to entice them to eat chopped frozen shrimps. They ignore mysis shrimps and bloodworms so far, so the only confirmed food as for now are live feeder guppies and frozen shrimps.

 

[piranhaman00]

Great looking eel!

 

[john_lord_b3]

Great looking eel!

Thank you! Indeed they are. They looks like somewhere between morays and snakes, that is their English name (tidepool snake moray) is very fitting.

 

[john_lord_b3]

Now both micropteruses has a new hobby: climbing up the top of my filter then hanging upside down, waiting for unsuspecting guppies to get close, then *chomp*