Species: Uropterygius polystictus, Many-spotted snake-moray, Peppered snake-moray

Uropterygius polystictus Myers & Wade, 1941

Peppered snake-moray, Many-spotted snake-moray

Body round at front, becoming compressed behind; head & body slightly longer than tail; eye nearer snout than angle of jaws; teeth slender, conical, smooth; top and bottom jaw teeth in 2 series, inner series on each side about 8-9 large, depressible canines, with 2 small triangular patches of teeth at front of top jaw; 1 row of 5-6 teeth on roof of mouth;  both nostrils tubular, similar; rear nostril slightly in front of middle of eye, not associated with a pore; gill opening a small, ~ eye-size hole, at midside; 1 lateral line pore above gill opening; dorsal and anal fins present as skin covered crests at rear of body near tail; tail blunt, with small, skin covered tail fin.

Light grey to pale orange, peppered with dark spots, particularly on upper half of body and around head; both pairs of nostrils without pigment; pores on both jaws with pigmentless rings; membrane around tail with pale border.

Size: 72 cm.

Habitat: mixtures of sand, rock and coral substrata, including tidepools.

Depth: 1-35 m.

SW Gulf of California and the Galapagos.