Zebra moray

Zebramuräne ( Gymnomuraena zebra)

The Zebramuräne ( Gymnomuraena zebra, Syn: Echidna zebra) is a strikingly colorful type of moray eels ( Muraenidae ). She lives in the Red Sea and tropical Indo-Pacific from East Africa to the Society Islands, Hawaii, and south to the Great Barrier Reef. In the eastern Pacific, they occur to northern Colombia and the Galapagos Islands from southern Baja California. Zebramuränen live mainly in rock and outer reefs at depths of one to 40 meters. They usually keep to deeper than four meters.

Features

Zebramuränen be up to 1.50 meters long. They are marked with numerous white and black or dark brown stripes. The white bands are wider in most specimens, with few but narrower. Within the black bands may use, especially in young animals, even brown or reddish bands appear. The snout is blunt and rounded, the teeth on edge, suitable to crush hard-shelled prey. Zebramuränen have 132-137 vertebrae.

Way of life

Zebramuränen live solitary, rarely in pairs in rocky and coral reefs. They feed mainly on crabs Xanthidae the family, but also from other crustaceans such as reef lobsters, and molluscs and sea urchins. The fish have also been observed in courtship. Around noon hours, the fish depend on, wrap around each other and tear the mouth wide. The actual Laichakt was not seen.