Species: Echidna catenata, Chain Moray

Echidna catenata (Bloch, 1795)

Chain Moray

Snout short and jaws short, broad, head profile steep; head and body 37-43% of TL; front nostril tubular, rear one a small hole with a raised wrinkle edge, above front edge of eye; teeth in multiple rows, short and blunt, no canines, molar-like on center of roof of mouth; gill opening a small slit at mid-flank; dorsal and anal fins skin covered, but evident; dorsal origin on head before gill opening, anal origin immediately after anus; 2 pores high above gill area, 6 pores along lower jaw, last one before end of mouth.

Head and body with a highly variable chain-link pattern of yellow lines separating patches of dark grey-brown.

Reaches 71 cm.

Lives on reefs.

Depth range: 0-20 m, usually intertidally at the shoreline.

Bermuda to Brazil and the central Atlantic islands.