Eel ID

[burbank28]

Hello every one, I’ve just joined but have been following along for many years. I need the help of the broader community. I ordered this eel that was sold as a golden dwarf moray, after getting it into a specimen box for better viewing. I don’t believe it is, does not have the characteristic blue cat eye . It’s a tiny, I have a snowflake that is about 10”-12” and it dwarfs this guy. It’s about 6” long with orangeish/copper colored eyes with 2 gray bars perpendicular to its body behind it’s head. I can’t find anything online that would be similar. Any and all help needed. I was going to put it in my DT but I have a 5 white cap gobys that I dont to disappear. Thanks in advance.

 

[burbank28]

Anyone?

 

[WalkerLovesTheOcean]

I can't help you, but maybe @Slocke Can?

 

[Steve and his Animals]

Hard to say, looks like it's faded from being in the dark/sleeping, and some juvenile morays look different than their adult forms. See if you can get a pic when it's comfortable in a tank.

 

[Slocke]

@ISpeakForTheSeas ?

 

[Slocke]

Also @HAAAAAAAA

 

[burbank28]

Hard to say, looks like it's faded from being in the dark/sleeping, and some juvenile morays look different than their adult forms. See if you can get a pic when it's comfortable in a tank.

Here is another picture that isn’t much better. very difficult when it’s moving in and out of the pvc. It’s under a cheap light so color is off. It seems to be relaxing, once it’s comfortable I’ll add more pictures as well. I sent the pictures off to wetwebmedia to see if they can help ID it.

 

[HAAAAAAAA]

Hello every one, I’ve just joined but have been following along for many years. I need the help of the broader community. I ordered this eel that was sold as a golden dwarf moray, after getting it into a specimen box for better viewing. I don’t believe it is, does not have the characteristic blue cat eye . It’s a tiny, I have a snowflake that is about 10”-12” and it dwarfs this guy. It’s about 6” long with orangeish/copper colored eyes with 2 gray bars perpendicular to its body behind it’s head. I can’t find anything online that would be similar. Any and all help needed. I was going to put it in my DT but I have a 5 white cap gobys that I dont to disappear. Thanks in advance.

There's a chance that it could be a really rare species or there could be a variation in species, though I think there's a higher chance of it being a rarer species than a variation.

Do you have any information on which ocean it was collected from?

 

[HAAAAAAAA]

Hello every one, I’ve just joined but have been following along for many years. I need the help of the broader community. I ordered this eel that was sold as a golden dwarf moray, after getting it into a specimen box for better viewing. I don’t believe it is, does not have the characteristic blue cat eye . It’s a tiny, I have a snowflake that is about 10”-12” and it dwarfs this guy. It’s about 6” long with orangeish/copper colored eyes with 2 gray bars perpendicular to its body behind it’s head. I can’t find anything online that would be similar. Any and all help needed. I was going to put it in my DT but I have a 5 white cap gobys that I dont to disappear. Thanks in advance.

What do you think?

 

[burbank28]

There's a chance that it could be a really rare species or there could be a variation in species, though I think there's a higher chance of it being a rarer species than a variation.

Do you have any information on which ocean it was collected from?

I was told it was collected from the Philippines. It has some similarities to the second picture you posted. It just doesn’t have the markings behind its head like the one I have. Here are a few more photos.

 

[burbank28]

I was told it was collected from the Philippines. It has some similarities to the second picture you posted. It just doesn’t have the markings behind its head like the one I have. Here are a few more also for size reference,

I was told it was collected from the Philippines. It has some similarities to the second picture you posted. It just doesn’t have the markings behind its head like the one I have. Here are a few more photos.

Also, for size reference the pipe in the photo is 1/2” diameter about 5” long

 

[littlefoxx]

I would guess is a juvenile maybe one of these?

 

[Steve and his Animals]

I would guess is a juvenile maybe one of these?

OP said it was from the Philippines, so wrong ocean lol

 

[littlefoxx]

OP said it was from the Philippines, so wrong ocean lol

Ah to be honest I didnt even look for the ocean in that eel just the colors! Good catch

 

[Steve and his Animals]

I was told it was collected from the Philippines. It has some similarities to the second picture you posted. It just doesn’t have the markings behind its head like the one I have. Here are a few more photos.

Can you get a good look at their teeth? I'm leaning towards a pebbletooth, possibly Echidna unicolor, but that obviously wouldn't be right if it has sharp pointed teeth

 

[HAAAAAAAA]

So far, the closest I could find which is similar with a subtle blackish marking on the head is a uropterygius concolor (it was the only picture I could find in this specific name and genus So i am not so confident if this is the right name or genus) it's also known as the brown snake moray

I was told it was collected from the Philippines. It has some similarities to the second picture you posted. It just doesn’t have the markings behind its head like the one I have. Here are a few more photos.

If you look closely i believe that you could see a dark shade near it's head but I am not quite sure because of the quality of the picture. I'll keep looking into the uropterygius genus since it seems to look more closely related to them

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

@ISpeakForTheSeas ?

Sorry, been busy this week and fell behind on my notifications- OP, lots of good suggestions already; does the eel have any identifying features beyond the two black spots behind the head (things like fine spotting that isn't really visible in the pics, a row of dots/indentations by the mouth, a thin dark ring around the eye, etc.)? Has it retained its coloration? Are the teeth sharp or blunt?

From my understanding of eel taxonomy (which I've been trying to get more familiar with because of an eel similar to this one but without the spots), with the long fin on this eel, this eel would be from the Muraeninae subfamily rather than the Urygopteriinae subfamily (see Figures 1 and 2 of the link below), so that at least narrows the search a little:

https://www.fao.org/4/y4161e/y4161e07.pdf

 

[HAAAAAAAA]

Sorry, been busy this week and fell behind on my notifications- OP, lots of good suggestions already; does the eel have any identifying features beyond the two black spots behind the head (things like fine spotting that isn't really visible in the pics, a row of dots/indentations by the mouth, a thin dark ring around the eye, etc.)? Has it retained its coloration? Are the teeth sharp or blunt?

From my understanding of eel taxonomy (which I've been trying to get more familiar with because of an eel similar to this one but without the spots), with the long fin on this eel, this eel would be from the Muraeninae subfamily rather than the Urygopteriinae subfamily (see Figures 1 and 2 of the link below), so that at least narrows the search a little:

https://www.fao.org/4/y4161e/y4161e07.pdf

Amazing! Your name should've been "ISpeakForTheEels" i am just kidding I hope you don't mind Lol, but no wonder, i couldn't find it in the uropter genus, it felt like i literally viewed all the eels in that genus haha!