Muraena
Encyclopedia
This article is about the animal. See Muraena gun
Muraena gun
The Muraena gun is a is a mast-mounted gun system for submarines proposed by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft. The system is a hoistable, mast-mounted automatic gun designed specifically for submarines. HDW expects to complete the system development by 2007. The unique design enables the submarine to...

 for the submarine deck gun
Deck gun
A deck gun is a type of artillery cannon mounted on the deck of a ship or submarine.The deck gun was used as a defensive weapon against smaller boats or ships and in certain cases where torpedo use was limited. Typically a crew of three; gunner, loader, and layer, operated the gun, while others...

 system nicknamed "Muraena".

Muraena is a genus of twelve species of large eel
Eel
Eels are an order of fish, which consists of four suborders, 20 families, 111 genera and approximately 800 species. Most eels are predators...

s in the family Muraenidae.

This genus is common in the Mediterranean, and highly esteemed by the ancient Romans . It is abundantly represented in tropical and subtropical seas, especially in rocky parts or on coral reef
Coral reef
Coral reefs are underwater structures made from calcium carbonate secreted by corals. Coral reefs are colonies of tiny living animals found in marine waters that contain few nutrients. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, which in turn consist of polyps that cluster in groups. The polyps...

s. In the majority, a long fin runs from the head along the back, round the tail to the vent, but all are destitute of pectoral and ventral fins. The skin is scaleless and smooth, in many species ornamented with varied and bright colours, so that these fishes are frequently mistaken for snake
Snake
Snakes are elongate, legless, carnivorous reptiles of the suborder Serpentes that can be distinguished from legless lizards by their lack of eyelids and external ears. Like all squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales...

s.

The mouth is wide, the jaws strong and armed with formidable, generally sharply pointed, teeth, which enable the Muraena not only to seize its prey (which chiefly consists of other fishes) but also to inflict serious, and sometimes dangerous, wounds on its enemies. It attacks persons who approach its places of concealment in shallow water, and is feared by fishermen. At least one species, Muraena retifera, possesses an additional "raptorial pharyngeal jaw" within the pharynx
Pharynx
The human pharynx is the part of the throat situated immediately posterior to the mouth and nasal cavity, and anterior to the esophagus and larynx. The human pharynx is conventionally divided into three sections: the nasopharynx , the oropharynx , and the laryngopharynx...

, which is mobile and can be thrust forwards quickly to assist in grasping prey.http://uk.news.yahoo.com/afp/20070905/tsc-science-biology-fish-c2ff8aa_1.html

Some of the tropical Muraenas exceed a length of 5 feet (150 cm), but most of the species, among them the Mediterranean moray
Mediterranean moray
The Mediterranean moray is a fish of the moray eel family. It has a long eel-like body and is found in the eastern Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea...

, are somewhat smaller. The latter, the "murena" of the Italians and the Muraena helena of ichthyologists, was considered by the ancient Romans to be one of the greatest delicacies, and was kept in large ponds and aquaria
Aquarium
An aquarium is a vivarium consisting of at least one transparent side in which water-dwelling plants or animals are kept. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, marine mammals, turtles, and aquatic plants...

. It is not confined to the coasts of southern Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, but is spread over the Indian Ocean
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...

, and is not uncommon on the coasts of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. Its body is generally of a rich brown, marked with large yellowish spots, each of which contains smaller brown spots.

Species

  • Muraena appendiculata
    Muraena appendiculata
    Muraena appendiculata is a moray eel found in the southeast Pacific ocean, around Chile. It was first named by Guichenot in 1848....

    (Guichenot
    Alphone Guichenot
    Antoine Alphone Guichenot was a French zoologist who taught, researched, and participated in specimen collecting trips on behalf of the National Natural History Museum in Paris, including an extensive biological survey of Algeria. His primary fields of research included fish and reptiles...

    , 1848)
  • Muraena argus
    Muraena argus
    Muraena argus is a moray eel found in coral reefs from Mexico to Peru, and the Galapagos Islands. It was first named by Franz Steindachner in 1870, and is commonly known as the White-spotted moray, or the Argus moray....

    (Steindachner
    Franz Steindachner
    Franz Steindachner was an Austrian zoologist.- Work and career :Being interested in natural history, Steindachner took up the study of fossil fishes on the recommendation of his friend Eduard Suess...

    , 1870)
    (White-spotted moray)
  • Muraena augusti
    Muraena augusti
    Muraena augusti is a moray eel found north of the eastern Central Atlantic ocean. It was first named by Johann Jakob Kaup in 1856....

    (Kaup
    Johann Jakob Kaup
    Johann Jakob Kaup was a German naturalist.-Biography:He was born at Darmstadt. After studying at Göttingen and Heidelberg he spent two years at Leiden, where his attention was specially devoted to the amphibians and fishes. He then returned to Darmstadt as an assistant in the grand ducal museum,...

    , 1856)
  • Muraena australiae
    Muraena australiae
    Muraena australiae is a moray eel found in coral reefs in the eastern Indian Ocean, around Australia. It was first named by John Richardson in 1848,...

    J. Richardson
    John Richardson (naturalist)
    Sir John Richardson was a Scottish naval surgeon, naturalist and arctic explorer.Richardson was born at Dumfries. He studied medicine at Edinburgh University, and became a surgeon in the navy in 1807. He traveled with John Franklin in search of the Northwest Passage on the Coppermine Expedition of...

    , 1848
  • Muraena clepsydra
    Muraena clepsydra
    Muraena clepsydra is a moray eel found in coral reefs from the Gulf of California to Peru, and the Galapagos Islands. It is commonly known as the Hourglass moray....

    C. H. Gilbert
    Charles Henry Gilbert
    Charles Henry Gilbert was a pioneer ichthyologist and fishery biologist of particular significance to natural history of the western United States. He collected and studied fishes from Central America north to Alaska and described many new species...

    , 1898
    (Hourglass moray)
  • Muraena helena Linnaeus
    Carolus Linnaeus
    Carl Linnaeus , also known after his ennoblement as , was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature. He is known as the father of modern taxonomy, and is also considered one of the fathers of modern ecology...

    , 1758
    (Mediterranean moray)
  • Muraena lentiginosa
    Muraena lentiginosa
    Muraena lentiginosa is a Moray Eel from the Eastern Pacific. It occasionally makes its way into the aquarium trade. It grows to a size of 61 cm in length. The minimum tank size for Jeweled Moray Eels is . Two should not be kept in the same tank unless the tank is over . Both eels must be...

    Jenyns
    Leonard Blomefield
    Leonard Jenyns, later known as Leonard Blomefield was a clergyman-naturalist.He was the youngest son of George Leonard Jenyns and his wife Mary the daughter of Dr. William Heberden . The Jenyns lived on Bottisham Hall property which his father had inherited on the death of his cousin Soame Jenyns...

    , 1842
    (Jewel moray)
  • Muraena melanotis
    Muraena melanotis
    Muraena melanotis is a moray eel found in the eastern and western Atlantic ocean. It is commonly known as the Honeycomb moray....

    (Kaup
    Johann Jakob Kaup
    Johann Jakob Kaup was a German naturalist.-Biography:He was born at Darmstadt. After studying at Göttingen and Heidelberg he spent two years at Leiden, where his attention was specially devoted to the amphibians and fishes. He then returned to Darmstadt as an assistant in the grand ducal museum,...

    , 1860)
    (Honeycomb moray)
  • Muraena pavonina
    Muraena pavonina
    Muraena pavonina is a moray eel found in the western and eastern Atlantic ocean. It is commonly known as the Whitespot moray....

    J. Richardson
    John Richardson (naturalist)
    Sir John Richardson was a Scottish naval surgeon, naturalist and arctic explorer.Richardson was born at Dumfries. He studied medicine at Edinburgh University, and became a surgeon in the navy in 1807. He traveled with John Franklin in search of the Northwest Passage on the Coppermine Expedition of...

    , 1845
    (Whitespot moray)
  • Muraena retifera
    Muraena retifera
    Reticulate moray is a Moray eel with pharyngeal jaws. It is part of the Muraena genus.-External links:* *...

    Goode
    George Brown Goode
    George Brown Goode , was an ichthyologist, although most of his time was spent as a museum administrator and he was very interested in the history of science, especially the history of the development of science in America. Goode graduated from Wesleyan University and studied at Harvard University...

     & Bean
    Tarleton Hoffman Bean
    Tarleton Hoffman Bean was an American ichthyologist, born at Bainbridge, Pennsylvania on 8 October 1846. He died in Albany, New York on 28 December 1916.-FAMILY AND EDUCATION :...

    , 1882
    (Reticulate moray)
  • Muraena robusta
    Muraena robusta
    Muraena robusta is a moray eel found in the eastern and central Atlantic ocean. It reaches a maximum length of 150 centimeters, or roughly 6 feet. It is commonly known as the stout moray....

    Osório, 1911 (Stout moray)
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