Maldives Marine Life

Marine life of Maldivian waters

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Ribbon eel
No photo available
Photo: Bernard DUPONT from FRANCE / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 (view on Wikimedia Commons)

Ribbon eel

Rhinomuraena quaesita

Valid name.

English
Ribbon eel
Scientific
Rhinomuraena quaesita
Dhivehi
No recorded Dhivehi name
Group
Eels
Family
Muraenidae (moray eels)
Maximum size
About 1-1.3 m
Depth and habitat
Sand and rubble patches in lagoons and reefs, about 1 to 60 m
IUCN status
LC · Least ConcernLeast Concern (LC), assessed 2009

Description

A very slender eel with leaf-like flaps on the nostrils and a jutting lower jaw. Its colour changes with life stage: juveniles are black with a yellow fin, males are bright blue with yellow, and the largest fish, which have become female, turn entirely yellow. It usually shows only its head and front of the body from a burrow, feeding on small fish.

In the Maldives

Present but uncommon in the Maldives; a sought-after find for macro photographers.

Sources

  • fishbase.se /summary/Rhinomuraena-quaesita.html
  • fao.org /4/AD471E/AD471E00.htm
  • fishbase.se /comnames/CommonNamesList.php?ID=8594&GenusName=Rhinomuraena&SpeciesNa
  • commons.wikimedia.org /wiki/File:Ribbon_Moray_(Rhinomuraena_quaesita)_(6052858389)_(cropped)

Dhivehi name source: No Dhivehi name found in MRS 1997, FishBase or Dhivehi Wikipedia.