8oJ 
RECORDS OF W.A. MUSEUM 
GYMNOTHORAX WOODWARDI, sp. nov. 
Figure i. 
Muraena nubila, Richardson — Zool Ereb. and Terr., Fishes, 1848, p. 81, part — 
specimen from Houtmans Abrolhos 
Muraena richardsonii, Gunther — Brit. Mus. Cat. Fish, VIII., 1870, p. 118 — same 
specimen (not of Bleeker). 
Gymnothorax punctalofasciatus, Waite— Rec Austr. Mus., VI., 1905, p. 58 (not of 
Bleeker). 
Head 2f in the trunk ; head and trunk ip in the tail. Snout 5^ 
in the head, mouth 2J, eye if in the snout, and almost equal to the 
interorbital space. 
Body compressed, snout pointed, the tip rounded. Teeth of 
adults uniserial in both jaws ; they are small anteriorly in the upper 
jaw, then large, and decreasing again backwards. In a small 
example there are one or two large canines inside the others near the 
middle of the jaw. Mandibular teeth decreasing regularly from 
front to back. One or two large depressible teeth on the median 
line of the mouth anteriorly.; vomerine teeth uniserial, small, and 
mostly rounded. Gill-opening smaller than the eye. Origin of the 
dorsal, midway between the end of the mouth and the gill-opening. 
Colour. — Light brown after long preservation in spirits, darker 
posteriorly, with a wide meshed network of dark lines on the upper 
half of the body. A dark line near the back begins with the dorsal 
and follows it until it is lost on the tail ; this line is not very 
distinct in my smallest specimen. Some black lines extend from 
behind the mouth towards the gill-opening; head otherwise plain. 
Anteriorly the dorsal and anal fins are marked like the body, but 
posteriorly they are very dark with whitish margins. 
Described from five specimens, 325-72omm. long, from near 
Fremantle, Houtmans Abrolhos, and Pelsart Island. The type, 
which is 515mm. long, is from the latter locality, and is in the 
Western Australian Museum. 
An eel in the British Museum, from Houtmans Abrolhos, was 
identified by Richardson as his Muraena nubila, and later by Gunther as 
M. richardsonii, Bleeker ; it is probably of the same species as the 
specimens described above. Mine differ from the figures of both nubila 
and richardsonii , however, in the arrangement of the dark marking 
