Species: Channomuraena vittata, Broadbanded Moray

Channomuraena vittata (Richardson, 1845)

Broadbanded Moray

Body robust, muscular and cylindrical, tapering to rear; tail tip rounded; head and body 2/3 of TL; snout short; eye small, over front 1/3 of jaws; front nostril a short tube, rear nostril a hole with a raised rim before and above eye; jaws extremely long, lower jaw distinctly projecting; teeth small, pointed, in bands, top jaw with a single band, between top jaws with an elongate teardrop-shaped band that extends back along roof of mouth; gill opening a small slit at mid side; lateral line pores absent except for 2 pores above and before gill opening, 7 along lower jaw, last before end of mouth; dorsal and anal fins only at tail tip.

Brown, with 13-16 broad dark bands circling body.

Reaches 150 cm.

Lives on reefs, mainly on islands.

Depth range: 0-102 m.

Both sides of the Atlantic and scattered records in the Indo-central Pacific. Bermuda to the southern Caribbean; Brazil.