Can you ID this moray?

[howard4113]

Ran across this fella in the reef in front of the Maui Prince. Any idea who he is? Juvie snowflake?

Mark

 

[Cave Diver]

Ran across this fella in the reef in front of the Maui Prince. Any idea who he is?

It's Joe.

 

[rigdiver]

No, it's Jack.

 

[Charlie99]

The one on the left, with the big grin, is Mark.

Don't have a clue about the cute one on the right.

 

[zahner]

maybe a juvenile whitemouth?

 

[Footslogger]

Pretty sure it's a Gold Spotted Moray. Have pics of them but none handy to attach.

See this link:

http://www.petsolutions.com/Gold+Spotted+Moray-I-122000L-I-C-16221-C-.aspx

 

[zahner]

The Gold Spotted Moray for sale there is Gymnothorax miliaris, which I believe is only an Atlantic species. do an image search on whitemouth moray aka Gymnothorax meleagris and compare the two

 

[justleesa]

I'll have to agree with zahner, a whitemouth

 

[Shaka Doug]

I'd be pretty comfy saying it's a juvenile whitemouth. They're the most common eel along Maui's south shore. I've seen more of them than any other eel species. The one in your photo looks like it has been injured. See the white and dark scarred area just below the finger coral? I had one bite my finger today, about the same size as this guy. He couldn't even get a grip on me! Teeth were too small to do any damage. He was feisty though!

 

[KrisB]

A similar photo had John Hoover stumped for a while, but the mystery was solved -- whitemouth (Gymnothorax meleagris) -- thanks to the colour of the inside of the eel's mouth and the white margin along the tail.

http://www.hawaiisfishes.com/fishes/neatfish/mystery_eel.htm