jg PAPERS FROM TORTUGAS LABORATORY vol. xxxiv 



total length; distance from snout to vent 2.3 to 2.6; head to gill opening 11. 5 to 

 13. Depth 2.6 to 3.0 in head; eye about 10 to 12; snout 5.75 to 7.0; pectoral 6.0 

 to 9.0. 

 Known from the Florida Keys. S. F. H. 



Family OPHICHTHYIDAE. Snake Eels 



Myrichthys acuminatus (Gronow) 



This eel is recorded from Tortugas (Garden Key) from a single specimen 

 450 mm. long, by Jordan and Thompson (Bull. U. S. Bur. Fish., vol. 24, 1904 

 (1905), p. 233). It apparently was not taken by Dr. Longley. 



The species is recognized by its long, cylindrical shape, with pointed finless 

 tail; by its blunt teeth; by the origin of the dorsal over the head in advance of 

 the gill opening; and by the two series of round, whitish blotches (more or less 

 yellowish in life) on the side of the body and on the head. 



West Indies, northward to Florida. S. F. H. 



Family MURAENIDAE. Morays 



Gymnothorax moringa (Cuvier). Common spotted moray 



This eel was seen and trapped from time to time around the coral heads. A 

 specimen 925 mm. long was described by Dr. Longley (notes) as having power- 

 ful jaws, with a structure permitting the mouth to be greatly extended; teeth 

 sharp, those in posterior part of jaws compressed and directed backward. 



Ground color yellow, approaching citron yellow on dorsal part of body, and 

 particularly on dorsal fin; this color laterally passing into a primrose yellow, 

 continuous on belly; the lighter ground color with spots of brown like raw 

 umber, these patches marked with lines of seal brown, more or less crosshatched 

 on spots of anterior third of body except on head, parallel and vertical on rest of 

 body except on posterior fifth, where distinction is less evident; brown spots 

 largely of two sizes, smaller ones more or less confluent, and tending to reduce 

 the ground color to mottling. Anterior third of dorsal fin margined with black, 

 the black border posteriorly interrupted; margin of tail almost white. 



A juvenile, 95 mm. long, probably of this species, was described (field notes) 

 by Dr. Longley as dark brown in life, marked obscurely with yellow, the most 

 conspicuous marking being the white lower jaw; mouth pigmented within; 

 teeth simple, sharply pointed, biserial in each jaw, though anteriorly only in 

 lower jaw, those in inner row enlarged Mid depressible; vomer with several very 

 large depressible teeth; eye nearer tip oi snout than angle of mouth, contained 

 nearly 2 times in snout. 



Gudger (Carnegie Inst. Wash. Pub. 391, 1929, p. 154) reported on specimens 

 taken at Tortugas, describing principally their breathing and feeding in aquaria. 



On the Atlantic coast of tropical America, ranging northward to Florida. 



S. F. H. 



