APODAL FISHES OF AMERICA AND EUROPE. 
601 
15. GYMNOTHORAX MORINGA. 
(Commox Mojiay ; Hamlet.) 
Murcena maculata nigra (the Black Moray) Catesby, Nat. Hist. Carolina, tab. 21, 1738 
(Bahamas, etc.). 
?? Gymnothorax afer Bloch, Iclith., pi. 417, 1795 (Africa). 
Murcena moringa Cfuvier, Regue Animal, ed. II, 1828 (after Catesby) ; Gunther, 
viii, 120, 1870 (Bahia; Cuba; Jamaica; Dominica; St. Croix; Bonacca; 
St. Helena). 
Gymnothorax moringa Goode, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., v, 72, 1870 (Bermuda); Goode & 
Bean, Proc. U. S. Nat, Mus., 240, 1882. 
Sidera moringa Jordan, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., 1884, 111 (Key West); Bean Dresel, 
ibid, 169 (Jamaica); Jordan, Cat. F. N. A., 52, 1885; Jordan, Proc. U. S. 
Nat. Mus., 34, 1886 (Havana) ; Jordan, ibid, 566. 
Gymnothorax rostratus Agassiz, Spix, Pise. Bras., 91, tab. 50 a, 1830 (Brazil); Poey, 
Rep'ertorio, ii, 259, 1868 (Cuba); Poey, Synopsis, 427, 1868; Cope, Trans. 
Amer. Phil. Soc., 483, 1876 (St. Martin’s; -St. Kitts; New Providence). 
Murcenophis roslratus Castleuau, Anim. Am6r. Sud,80, pi. 42, fig. 1, 1855 (Rio Janeiro). 
Murcena rostrata Poey, Conspectus, 386, 1868 (Cuba). 
Murcena moringua Richardson, Voy. Erebus and Terror, Fishes, 89, 1844 (Jamaica). 
Thyrsoidea moringua Kaup, Apodes, 79, 1856. 
Murcena punctata Grouow, Cat. Fish., 18, 1854 (rivers of North America). 
Murenophis curvilineata Castelnau, Anim. Amer. Sud, Poiss., 81, pi. 42, fig. 2, 1855 
(Rio Janeiro). 
Murenophis caramuru Castelnau, Anim. Nouv. Rares, Am^rique du Sud, 85, pi. 43, 
fig. 1, 1855 (Bahia). 
Gymnothorax Jiavoscriptus Poey, Enumeratio, 158, 1875 (Cuba). 
Gymnothorax picturatus Poey, Anal. Soc. Esp. Hist. Nat., 257, 1880 (Cuba). 
Habitat : West Indian fauna, ranging from Pensacola to Rio Janeiro 
and St. Helena. 
Etymology : Moringa, a West Indian corruption of Murcena (Moray, 
Morena, etc.). • 
This large moray is the commonest species of the group in the West 
Indies, where it is everywhere abundant. The specimens before us are 
from Key West, Havana, and the Snapper Banks near Pensacola. The 
species varies considerably in shade of coloration and extent of the dark 
markings. The general pattern is, however, very uniform. The speci- 
mens before us vary in such a way as to suggest at first examination 
the existence of four distinct species. Besides the ordinary form of 
moringa , there are specimens from coral sand at Key West, very pale, 
with the pale markings predominating over the dark spots. This form 
is known to the fishermen as u Hamlet.” A specimen from Havana is 
almost black, with no pale margin to the anal, and the eye appears 
very much smaller, 3J in the snout. This is, however, due to the 
encroachment of the black pigment on the eye, as the pupil itself is as 
large as in the others. Two large specimens from the Snapper Banks 
are also very dark, and in one the dorsal and anal fins are distinctly 
dusky towards and on the edge. In these the black markings reduce 
the ground color to narrow streaks and disconnected reticulations. 
There is, however, no reason to doubt that all belong to a single 
variable species. * The dentition is alike in all. 
