Dark green with a fine yellow reticulation and a yellow-green head, and one of the more aggressive morays if cornered.
To about 150 cm. The head is pointed and the snout is often yellow, which is the most useful mark when only the head is showing. The body carries large dark blotches separated by diffuse pale yellowish lines forming a chain-link network, clearest in juveniles. There are three rows of teeth at the front of the upper jaw including three prominent fangs.
The yellow-edged moray is the pair: finely mottled rather than chain-linked, with a black blotch at the gill opening and yellow-green fin margins, none of which this fish has.
Nought to a hundred and ten metres on reef flats among rock, rubble and debris, in lagoons and on seaward reefs, nocturnal, taking fish and octopus.
Two warnings on this one. It is the only moray on this site that FishBase actively describes as aggressive and prone to bite. And it is one of two here with ciguatera reports against it.
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.
