Chestnut brown covered in white spots ringed with dark, and one of the more decorated morays anywhere.
To about 61 cm. A moderate conical snout with the head and jaws compressed, both nostrils tubular, and jaws that close completely over a single row of slender conical teeth. Typically brown with dark-edged yellow spots that multiply as the fish grows, and an inconspicuous black area over the gill opening. Pale mottled individuals occur and can mislead.
The hourglass moray is the one to rule out, and its gill ocellus is large and obvious where this fish’s is not.
Five to twenty-five metres on rock, under cover by day and feeding at night on crustaceans and fish.
Ratings are per location: 1 means found on most dives that look for it, 5 means a handful of records. Where enough dives have been logged the figure is calculated from them; otherwise it is an editorial estimate, and says so. We publish habitat and destination, not the dive site.
