That's A Moray Monday: The Miriam Goldstein Edition

As some of you ocean science blog types may know, one of my colleagues--Miriam Goldstein (one-half of the oomph behind the utterly fantastic blog The Oyster's Garter)--has been in Curaçao for the past few weeks tormenting reef invertebrates, killing helpless fish, and likely grinding defenseless coral polyps under foot conducting research.

Shortly after arriving in Curaçao, Miriam reported being afflicted by a mystery sting on her hand. So painful was it that it caused her to entirely miss on a guest post at Coral Week at DSN, thus trumping my own lame-ass excuse for not guest posting on Coral Week due to an international speaking engagement and an inordinate fondness for drinking rum when not working.

This being Miriam's first foray into tropical reefs, she learned the hard way that tropical marine ecosystems are home to an evolutionary arms race of self-defense systems. She summed things up nicely with,

The moral of this story? Looky, no touchy is BY FAR the best way to hang out on a reef. Collecting tunicate samples is way more harrowing than I thought it would be. On top of the fireworm, I almost got nailed by an extraordinarily attractive and extraordinarily toothy Golden Moray yesterday. (Rick would be…so proud. Scroll down for his That’s a Moray Monday series with all the moray goodness you can handle. Except for the golden moray. Rick, do you take requests?)

Why yes I do, Miriam. Thanks for asking! But coming-up with an answer wasn't straight-forward.

The nightmare of common names left me with a few possible directions to pursue. Google-ing her initial ID, "Golden Moray," came-up with only 10 hits. The closest match was Gymnothorax melatremus which goes by the common name "Golden Moray" but also "Dwarf Moray" on Fish Base. But I ruled this species out as soon as I noticed its range seemed limited to the Indo-Pacific (Indonesia specifically). Well that's not close to Curaçao.

Turning to my bookshelf, I next did what any marine ecologist trained in systematics, cladistics, and the use of dichotomous keys would do: With a beer in hand I leafed through pretty pictures until I found a yellowish-golden moray eel. Reef Fish Identification: Florida, Caribbean, Bahamas by Paul Humann lists two candidate eels that might be Miriam's sighting. The first golden-colored eel was Gymnothorax saxicola, the "Honeycomb Moray," (see image at left). Typical coloration is shades of cream to yellow, yellow-brown, or brown. Check! Constantly opens and closes a mouth filled with needle-sharp teeth. Check! But wait, the Honeycomb moray's range rarely extends south of Bermuda. Also, it's preferred habitat is turtle grass beds, not coral reefs.

Which leaves me with the only other Caribbean, golden-colored, reef-dwelling suspect eel and the star of this week's Moray Monday.

Goldentail Moray
Gymnothorax miliaris

Goldentail?! Goldstein?! Wait a minute... I smell a set-up! Be that as it may, this is a doozy of a moray and I'm delighted Miriam's close encounter brought it to my attention.

From what I can tell from the color variation in photographed specimens on Fish Base, the Goldentail moray either has several color morphs or it is decidedly more yellowish in color as a juvenile. For comparison, here's one image of Gymnothorax miliaris from its taxonomic description:

Here's another from the same page:

They almost look like different species. Either of these resemble your stalker, Miriam?

The Goldentail moray reaches a maximum length of about 70 cm (2.3 ft). It ranges from the Western Atlantic (Bermuda and southern Florida) to the Antilles (can you say Curaçao?) and southeast Brazil. In the Eastern Atlantic it has been documented in St. Paul's Rocks, Cape Verde, Ascension and St. Helena islands as well as the Azores.

A benthic and solitary species, the Goldentail moray inhabits reefs and rocky shorelines usually to depths of 60 meters but prefers shallow to mid-range coral reefs. It is active during the day and sometimes seen hunting together with other reef predators. As troublesome as it was to initially ID, Paul Humann considers it to be one of the most common and easily recognized morays of West Indian reefs.

Despite a menacing appearance, the Goldentail moray is considered non-aggressive (like most morays). It's gaping-mouth appearance has more to do with respiration than threat posturing. Though I must again flaunt my morbid side by saying that since she denied us all a peek at her swollen, mystery-stung hand, the very least Miriam could do is bring back pictures of a moray bite to satisfy us ghouls. It doesn't have to be her own hand. That's what dive buddies are for!

Well, Miriam, I hope you enjoyed this tribute post. Just know that henceforth, Gymnothorax miliaris will always be fondly known to me as the "Goldenstein-tail moray." What it lacks in euphony it exceeds in mirth.