That's A Moray Monday

Back in San Francisco and time for a regularly scheduled That's A Moray Monday. And here's both a spectacular fish and a vocabulary lesson.

Fimbriated Moray
Gymnothorax fimbriatus
Okay, without looking for your dictionary, what does fimbriated mean? Well, my online dictionary defines fimbriated as having a very narrow border, having a fringed border, or a fringe-like part or structure. And I'm guessing that the fimbriated in this morays name refers to it's tall, fringed dorsal fin running the length of the body. Though I've gotta tell you, I'm not seeing a fringe on any of the images I've found (unless it's referring to the thin white edge to the dorsal fin?). Whatever it refers to, the name would probably be as slippery as the eel itself if it turned up in a spelling bee.

The Fimbriated Moray (also called the Dark-spotted Moray and Spot-face Moray) occurs in coral reef and inshore waters of the tropical Indo-west Pacific, from Madagascar to the Society Islands (French Polynesia), north to southern Japan, south to Queensland, Australia, and throughout Micronesia. The eels habitat is typically lagoons, reef flats and seaward reefs. It prefers protected inshore waters among dead corals, and is quite common in harbors and small caves.

The Fimbriated Moray is grey to light brown in color with rows of well separated dark brown blotches. The head is greenish-yellow dorsally. There is a large white spot at the rear of the lower jaw. A row of large canine teeth runs along the roof of the mouth.
The species grows to about 80 cm (2.6 ft) in length. It is most active at night and feeds primarily on fish and crustaceans.