Species: Gymnothorax vicinus, Purplemouth Moray

Gymnothorax vicinus (Castelnau, 1855)

Purplemouth Moray

Body elongate, compressed at rear; tail tapering; head and trunk slightly shorter than 1/2 TL; snout and jaws elongate and pointed; eye slightly before middle of mouth; front nostril a simple tube; rear nostril a rimmed hole at level of profile of head; lower jaw straight, mouth closes completely; teeth strong, smooth, canines at front of jaws; a row of 5-6 large outer teeth (flanked by 3-9 tiny teeth) at top front of mouth, a row of 3 long slender fangs in between; top jaw with 1 row of 15-21 pointed teeth, plus an inner row at front of 1-3 inner teeth; roof of mouth with 1 row of 6-14 small teeth, well behind the central fangs; lower jaw with 11-23 teeth in a single row, the front 4 enlarged and flanked by 2-8 tiny teeth; gill opening round to a slit; dorsal and anal fins covered with skin, but evident; dorsal origin on head, before gill opening.

Color is highly variable; ground color is whitish to dark, densely overlaid by small dark purplish brown spots; a dark horizontal slash at corner of mouth; outer margin of dorsal and anal fins black, narrowly edged in white; snout and head often with purple cast; iris gold; inside mouth purple; young are dark, with a white lower jaw.

Reaches 122 cm.

Lives in reef habitats, also found in rocks in seagrass beds.

Depth range: 2-280 m, usually < 50 m.

The E, C and W Atlantic; New Jersey to Brazil.