That's a moray!

[Russy Pelican]

But what kind?

So I picked up an eel about a month ago. I purchased it as a zebra moray (Gymnomuraena zebra):

which is a species I've kept for twenty years.

But the animal pictured below is a different species. The head is more elongate and there is a high dorsal fin, on the typical zebra there is no dorsal at all. Also, zebras have molar-like teeth for crushing mollusks; this eel has very sharp long teeth like a picovore.

If anyone knows what that is, I'd sure like too know. It doesn't appear in Burgess' Atlas or any websites I've found. E. Polyzona was leading the pack for color pattern, but the headshape is more typical of Gymnothorax.

 

[guppy]

Just a guess but how about a young Gymnothorax rueppellii? I understand that the black band across the head fades out as they get older then the head turns yellow.

 

[vicedretard]

i would have to second that id given by guppy

 

[yogifish808]

looks like a type of snake eel. We caught a "magnificent snake eel" a while back and that thing was very active. Sadly though it managed to jump out of the bucket in the truck bed going home and died.

 

[Russy Pelican]

It's definitely not a snake eel. The pattern is close, but the head shape is entirely inconsistent. They have a very different shaped head than a moray:

And are much slighter of build.
Here's another picture showing the whole body. And notice the high dorsal...

looking for juvie pics of ruppellii...

 

[Russy Pelican]

Folks on some other message boards are saying it's a Gymnothorax rueppellii. Perhaps only time will tell, though.

 

[guppy]

Yeah, there is a serious change as they age

 

[spotfin]

I would go with Echidna polyzona. Reef Fishes Vol. 1 by Scott Michael describes the banded moray as having 25-30 bars, while the the tiger moray Gymnothorax enigmaticus and yellowhead G. rueppelliae have 17-21 and 16-21 bars, respectively. I count 25 bars on the eel in your picture. Your eel is a beautiful specimen. A lfs here had a banded moray last year.

 

[guppy]

I would go with Echidna polyzona. Reef Fishes Vol. 1 by Scott Michael describes the banded moray as having 25-30 bars, while the the tiger moray Gymnothorax enigmaticus and yellowhead G. rueppelliae have 17-21 and 16-21 bars, respectively. I count 25 bars on the eel in your picture. Your eel is a beautiful specimen. A lfs here had a banded moray last year.

I think you might be right, I found a pic on animal-world.com that is a very close match.

 

[chrisdef15]

Folks on some other message boards are saying it's a Gymnothorax rueppellii. Perhaps only time will tell, though.

That top ones a fimbriate.